^JSTOF  PRINCE^ 
^OLOGICALSt^^ 


BR  121  .J73 

Jowett,  John  Henry,  1864- 

1923. 
The  whole  armour  of  God 


THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 


By  J.  H.  JOWETT,  P.P. 

The  Whole  Armour  of  God 

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THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR 

OF  GOD  W 


BY 


JOHN  HENRY  JOWETT,  M.A.,  D.D. 

Fifth  Avenue  Presbyterian  Churchy 
New  Tork  City 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming   H.    Revell   Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,   1 91 6,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:     100     Princes     Street 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Invisible  Antagonisms  .        .  9 

II.  The  Gibdle  of  Truth          .        .  25 

III.  The  Breastplate  of  Righteousness  41 

IV.  Beady! 59 

V.  The  Shield  of  Faith  ...  77 

VI.  The  Helmet  of  Hope       .        .  .91 

VII.  The  Sword  of  the  Spirit    .        .  109 

VIII.  The  Soldier's  Use  of  Prater  .  127 

IX.  Watch  Ye! 143 

X.  Enduring  Hardness        .        .  .  161 

XI.  The  Invisible  Commander  on  the 

Field 179 

XII.  The  Soldier's  Fire         .        .  .  197 

XIII.  The  Victory  Over  the  Beast  .       215 

XIV.  The  Coming  Golden  Age       .  .  231 
XV.  More  Than  Conquerors     .  .      249 

7 


THE  INVISIBLE  AN- 
TAGONISMS 


ETERNAL  GOD,  may  no  distraction  draw  us  away  from 
our  communion  with  Thee.  May  we  come  to  Thee  like  children 
going  home,  jubilant  and  glad.  We  have  been  in  the  far  coun- 
try and  our  garments  are  stained.  May  we  hasten  to  the  minis- 
try of  forgiveness  and  reconciliation.  If  we  have  been  on  fields 
of  heavy  battle,  where  the  fire  of  the  enemy  has  been  avjful  and 
unceasing,  may  we  hasten  to  Thee  for  the  overhauling  of  our 
armor,  and  for  the  renewal  of  our  strength.  If  we  have  been 
called  upon  to  walk  weary  roads  of  unfamiliar  sorrow,  may  we 
turn  to  Thee  as  to  refreshing  springs.  If  we  have  lapsed  from 
our  high  calling,  may  we  renew  our  covenant.  If  we  have 
missed  a  gracious  opportunity,  may  we  seek  another  chance. 
If  we  have  been  counted  faithful  in  any  service,  and  have  ful- 
filled our  commission  by  the  help  of  Thy  grace,  may  we  hasten 
to  give  the  glory  to  Thee.  Unite  us,  we  humbly  pray  Thee, 
in  the  holy  bonds  of  Christian  sympathy.  Deepen  our  pity 
so  that  we  may  share  the  sorrows  of  people  far  away.  May 
we  feel  the  burden  of  the  burdened  and  weep  with  them  that  weep. 
May  we  not  add  to  our  sin  by  ceasing  to  remember  those  who 
are  in  need.  Grant  peace  in  our  time,  0  Lord,  the  peace 
which  is  the  fruit  of  righteousness.  Let  Thy  will  be  done 
among  all  the  peoples,  so  that  in  common  obedience  to  Thee 
all  tht  nations   may   fold   abiding  union.     Amen, 


THE  INVISIBLE  ANTAGONISMS 

"Wherefore  take  unto  you  the 
whole  armour  of  God,  that  ye  may 
be  able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day, 
and  having  done  all  to  stand." 
Eph.  6:13. 

1ET  me  give  one  or  two  other  transla- 
j  tions  which  devout  scholars  have 
made  in  the  attempt  to  bring  out 
the  precise  significance  of  Paul's  original 
words.  Many  interpreting  minds  act  like 
the  solar  spectrum,  and  they  help  to  dis- 
play the  wealthy  contents  in  the  pure  white 
light  of  gospel  truth.  Here  then  is  Dr. 
Moffat's  translation:  "So  take  God's 
armour  that  you  may  be  able  to  make  a 
stand  in  the  evil  day  and  hold  your  ground 
by  overcoming  all  your  foes."  And  here 
is  Dr.  Weymouth's  fine  attempt  to  elicit 
the  buried  wealth  of  the  apostle's  words: 
"Put  on  the  complete  armour  of  God  so 
that  you  may  be  able  to  stand  your  ground 

11 


12    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

on  the  day  of  battle,  and  having  fought  to 
the  end  to  remain  victors  on  the  field." 
That  is  a  translation  which  stirs  one's 
blood,  and  I  am  inclined  to  regard 
it  as  a  very  vital  interpretation  of  the 
rousing,  soldierly  counsel  of  the  apostle 
Paul. 

The  apostle  is  writing  to  a  tiny  com- 
pany of  Christians  at  Ephesus,  so  tiny 
that  they  are  like  a  drop  in  a  bucket  in  the 
midst  of  that  teaming  population.  For 
this  is  what  has  happened.  Under  the 
constraining  influence  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ  this  little  handful  of  men  and  women 
have  done  one  of  the  hardest  things  we  are 
ever  called  upon  to  do.  They  have  cut 
themselves  away  from  old  fellowships. 
They  have  separated  themselves  from  the 
fond  attachments  of  a  lifetime.  They  have 
severed  themselves  from  venerable  roots. 
They  have  forfeited  dear  and  vital  friend- 
ships, and  they  are  now  living  an  alien 
life  within  the  circle  of  their  own  city. 
They  are  strangers  in  their  own  home. 
They  are  foreigners  in  their  native  land. 
They  are  pilgrims  in  their  own  coun- 
try. They  are  in  it  and  yet  not  of  it.  They 
are  like  tropical  plants  which  find  them- 


THE  INVISIBLE  ANTAGONISMS     13 

selves  in  the  Arctic  Zone.  And  it  is  to  this 
little  company  that  the  apostle  writes  this 
letter,  and  to  them  he  gives  the  inspiring 
counsel  of  my  text:  "Put  on  the  com- 
plete armour  of  God  that  ye  may  be 
able  to  stand  your  ground  in  the  day  of 
battle." 

In  what  sort  of  circumstances  did  these 
people  live?  Let  us  take  a  swift  survey  of 
the  hostility  of  their  surroundings.  What 
was  the  nature  of  the  antagonisms  by  which 
this  little  company  were  beset?  First  of 
all,  there  was  the  overwhelming  power  of 
the  world*.  Their  city  itself  was  lux- 
uriously placed.  The  very  location  of 
Ephesus  was  favourable  to  prosperity,  en- 
joying as  it  did  the  double  advantage  of 
shelter  and  of  openness  to  the  outer  world. 
I  was  amazed  when  I  walked  among  its 
ruins  in  the  late  spring  at  the  magnificence 
of  its  position.  If  you  will  think  of  a  cup, 
with  more  than  a  third  of  its  rim  broken 
down  to  its  base,  you  will  gain  a  rough  but 
practical  suggestion  of  the  groundwork 
of  this  ancient  city.  About  two-thirds  of 
the  city  are  immediately  engirt  with  noble 
and  richly  verdured  hills.  Then  this  shel- 
tering rim  of  hills  is  broken,  and  the  cup 


14      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

opens  out  in  one  direction  to  a  port  on  the 
open  sea,  and  in  the  other  direction  to  a 
rich  alluvial  plain,  famous  for  its  wonder- 
ful fertility.  Such  was  Ephesus,  sheltered 
and  yet  open,  with  protective  arms  of  hills 
about  it,  and  yet  widely  hospitable  to  the 
trade  and  wealth  of  the  world.  No  wonder 
Ephesus  was  luxurious,  no  wonder  she 
was  carnal,  and  no  wonder  she  was  en- 
nervated.  She  was  the  very  hunting 
ground  of  the  garish  world,  and  in  this 
mesmeric  garishness  this  little  company 
of  Christians  had  their  home.  This  was 
the  first  of  their  antagonisms. 

Well,  then,  to  mention  a  second  antago- 
nism, there  was  the  majestic  power  of  an 
alien  religion.  The  magnificent  Temple  of 
Diana,  which  is  now  only  a  little  heap  of 
stones,  with  literally  not  one  stone  resting 
orderly  upon  another,  then  dominated  the 
city  by  its  splendour,  and  represented  a 
religion  which  held  the  people  in  the  loose 
leash  of  easy  and  licentious  morals;  Just 
think  of  that  resplendent  temple,  that  gor- 
geous temple,  and  then  think  of  some  ob- 
scure house  in  some  obscure  street,  where 
this  little  company  of  Christians  met  to 
commune  with  their  Lord,  and  in  the  con- 


THE  INVISIBLE. ANTAGONISMS     15 

trast  you  will  realize  another  of  the  an- 
tagonisms which  assailed  their  discipleship 
every  hour  of  the  day.  The  Temple  of 
Diana  versus  the  little  Christian  meeting- 
house !  It  makes  one  think  of  another  con- 
trast in  the  grey  and  windy  city  of  Edin- 
burgh ;  the  dark,  frowning  Palace  of  Holy- 
rood  versus  John  Knox's  small  house  in 
Canongate !  And  history  tells  us  which  of 
these  two  proved  to  be  the  dwelling-place 
of  invincible  strength.  This  was  the  second 
of  their  antagonisms. 

And  then,  to  name  a  third  of  their 
antagonisms,  there  was  the  pervasive 
power  of  popular  customs  and  traditions. 
Every  day  this  little  handful  of  Chris- 
tians were  up  against  customs  that  were 
like  invisible  bonds.  Yes,  religious  and 
social  customs  always  thread  the  com- 
mon life,  and  to  oppose  them  is  to  run  up 
against  antagonisms  which  are  like  in- 
visible webs  of  barbed  wire.  We  know 
what  it  means  to  oppose  a  popular  custom 
to-day.  Just  oppose  even  a  simple  one; 
decide  to  wear  no  black  in  the  hour  of  be- 
reavement and  you  are  up  against  a  world 
of  hostility  and  suspicion;  And,  still  fur- 
ther, let  the  convention  you  defy  be  an  ec- 


16      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

clesiastical  convention,  or  one  which  has 
somehow  come  to  wear  religions  sanctions, 
and  the  antagonism  is  tremenclons.  Well, 
this  little  company  of  Christians  in  Ephe- 
sns  were  defying  popular  social  customs 
and  popular  religious  customs  every  day, 
and  they  were,  therefore,  confronted  with 
a  fierce  and  terrific  opposition.  And  so 
they  had  all  these  antagonisms  to  meet, 
the  hardening  glare  of  the  world,  the  far- 
reaching  power  of  an  alien  religion,  and 
the  tyranny  of  popular  custom  and  tradi- 
tion. And  in  the  very  thick  of  all  these 
you  must  imagine  these  comparatively 
youthful  Christians  seeking  to  live  their 
separate  and  consecrated  life. 

But  in  this  strong  and  tender  letter  to 
this  little  flock  of  Christians,  the  apostle 
Paul  looks  beyond  the  opposition  of  flesh 
and  blood,  and  the  steelly  barriers  of  usage 
and  tradition;  he  pierces  the  visible  veil 
and  beholds  invisible  antagonists,  spiritual, 
alive,  active  and  hostile.  Listen  to  him: 
"For  ours  is  not  a  conflict  with  mere  flesh 
and  blood,  but  with  the  despotisms,  the  em- 
pires, the  forces  that  control  and  govern 
this  dark  world,  the  spiritual  hosts  of  evil 
arrayed  against  us  in  the  heavenly  war- 


THE  INVISIBLE  ANTAGONISMS     17 

fare."  When  the  apostle  looked  upon 
Ephesus  it  seemed  as  though  the  whole  city 
became  transparent,  and  behind  the  visible 
and  transient  veils  he  saw  these  spiritual 
foes.  There  was  much  mischief  in  Ephesus, 
there  was  much  weaving  of  evil  webs,  there 
was  much  coming  and  going  of  worldly 
forces ;  but  to  Paul,  the  real  prompters  and 
instigators  were  back  in  the  unseen.  This 
is  the  teaching  of  this  great  apostle.  These 
Christians  in  the  early  Church  had  to  fight 
unseen  enemies,  antagonists  in  the  spirit — 
"spiritual  hosts  of  evil  in  the  heavenly 
warfare."  The  real  enemy  is  entrenched 
in  the  unseen,  and  he  is  ever  active,  night 
and  day,  and  the  early  believer  confronted 
him  in  ancient  Ephesus,  as  the  later  be- 
liever confronts  him  in  modern  New  York 
and  London. 

Now  it  is  of  these  invisible  antagonists 
that  the  apostle  most  urgently  warns  these 
young  disciples.  He  warns  them  of  the  ex- 
traordinary subtlety  of  the  warfare,  of  the 
wiles  of  the  devil,  of  the  stratagems  of 
these  mysterious  powers,  of  their  traps 
and  devices,  of  their  diabolic  cleverness, 
and  of  their  amazing  and  manifold  ingenui- 
ties.   The  instruments  of  modern  material 


18      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

warfare  are  almost  incredible  in  the  refine- 
ment of  their  destructiveness,  and  I  have 
no  donbt  in  my  own  mind  that  even  these 
ingenuities  are  also  diabolic,  and  that  if 
we  could  pierce  the  veil  we  should  see  the 
invisible  enemies  at  their  fiendish  work. 
But  these  unseen  antagonists  out-do  all  the 
subtleties  of  the  material  instruments  of 
destruction  in  the  devices  in  which  they 
lure  and  snare  and  entrap  and  overthrow 
the  soul*. 

Well,  then,  how  do  these  antagonists 
work?  How  is  this  cunning  antagonism 
exerted  upon  the  soul?  It  is  exerted  both 
mediately  and  immediately.  First  of  all, 
these  invisible  antagonists  work  im- 
mediately upon  the  soul.  Spirit  can  work 
upon  spirit;  mind  can  lay  pressure  upon 
mind.  There  is  a  direct  and  immediate  in- 
fluence upon  the  secret  life  of  man.  That 
is  the  teaching  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  I 
freely  confess  to  you  that  there  are  phe- 
nomena in  my  own  life,  and  in  the  lives  of 
others  which  I  cannot  interpret  in  any 
other  way.  I  know  it  is  altogether  myste- 
rious, but  it  is  by  no  means  incredible.  In 
our  own  day  we  are  obtaining  first  glimpses 
into  avenues  of  spiritual  activity  which 


THE  INVISIBLE  ANTAGONISMS     19 

hitherto  have  been  shrouded  in  mist  and 
darkness.  The  phenomena  of  thought 
transference,  of  telepathy,  of  hypnotism, 
are  lifting  the  veil  upon  modes  of  influence 
of  which  we  have  scarcely  dreamed.  One 
mind  can  influence  another  mind  directly 
without  either  speech  or  deed,  leaving  upon 
the  other  the  seal  and  imprint  of  its  own 
mould.  When  I  see  this  I  do  not  count  it 
incredible  when  it  is  reported  to  me  that 
there  are  spiritual  antagonists  in  Ephesus 
and  in  New  York  who  prey  upon  the 
thoughts  of  man,  and  work  upon  his  im- 
agination, and  engage  his  sentiments  and 
ambitions  with  the  purpose  of  luring  him 
from  his  sacred  loyalties,  and  inciting  him 
to  rebellion  against  the  holy  and  most 
high  God.  "Ours  is  not  a  conflict  with 
mere  flesh  and  blood,"  says  the  apostle. 
We  have  invisible  foes; 

And  then,  in  the  second  place,  these 
spiritual  antagonists  work  mediately  upon 
the  soul.  They  work  upon  the  soul  through 
the  medium  of  human  ministries — 
through  the  contagious  power  of  crowds, 
through  the  gravitation  of  the  age, 
through  the  general  spirit  of  society, 
through  the  psychological  climate  in  which 


20      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

our  life  is  cast.  And  they  also  work  upon 
the  soul  through  the  medium  of  individ- 
uals, through  men  and  women  who  have 
been  captured  by  the  evil  one  and  who  are 
now  used  in  his  purposes  of  moral  and 
spiritual  destruction.  Our  invisible  antag- 
onists cast  their  lure  upon  us  through  the 
ministry  of  our  fellow-men: 

Now  all  these  antagonisms,  seen  and  un- 
seen, mediate  and  immediate,  this  little 
company  of  Christians  had  to  meet  in  an- 
cient Ephesus.  You  say  the  antagonisms 
are  tremendous!  Yes,  indeed  they  are, 
and  the  Christian  life  is  a  tremendous 
thing.  That  is  what  tens  of  thousands  of 
professing  Christians  have  yet  to  learn. 
Let  it  be  said  that  of  all  tremendous  things 
the  Christian  life  is  the  most  tremendous. 
It  is  not  something  we  can  play  with  in  idle 
hours,  it  is  not  a  merely  pleasant  fellow- 
ship, it  is  not  the  bloodless  act  of  joining 
the  visible  Church.  No,  it  is  not  the  carry- 
ing of  a  highly  imposing  label ;  it  is  a  des- 
perate, continuous,  but  withal,  a  glorious 
campaign.  Speaking  for  myself,  I  confess 
that  I  have  to  have  my  fingers  on  the  throat 
of  the  devil  every  day  of  my  mortal  life. 
This  is  how  I  find  it    I  do  not  gain  a  single 


THE  INVISIBLE  ANTAGONISMS     21 

inch  without  a  fight.  No  fine  victory  is 
ever  gained  by  me  without  blood.  0,  the 
sternness  of  the  Christian  fight!  and  0, 
its  attractiveness  and  its  glory!  Yes,  in- 
deed, you  are  right;  the  antagonisms  are 
tremendous. 

How  then,  are  they  to  be  met?  If  these 
are  our  antagonisms,  seen  and  unseen,  in 
New  York  as  well  as  in  Ephesus,  how  can 
we  meet  and  overcome  them?  Let  us  lis- 
ten to  the  Word:  "Put  on  the  complete 
armour  of  God."  Let  us  begin  there.  Our 
first  need  is  God.  Without  God  we  are 
beaten  even  before  the  fight  begins.  We 
have  no  more  likelihood  of  vanquishing 
our  spiritual  foes  without  God  than  this  un- 
aided hand  of  mine  would  be  able  to  drive 
back  the  solid  phalanxes  of  the  German 
hosts.  We  must  begin  with  God.  In  the 
tenth  verse  of  this  chapter  the  apostle 
unfolds  the  primary  secret  of  victory.  ' '  Be 
strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  His 
might.' '  But  that  is  a  very  imperfect 
translation,  laying  too  much  emphasis  upon 
the  soldier  and  too  little  upon  his  Lord'.  I 
greatly  like  the  marginal  rendering  of  the 
revised  version:  "Be  made  powerful  in  the 
Lord."    Does  not  that  word  sound  full  of 


22      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

promise  for  soldiers  who  are  about  to 
storm  a  difficult  position?  "Be  made 
powerful  in  the  Lord. ' '  Let  God  make  you 
powerful!  Such  power  is  not  a  trophy  of 
battle;  it  is  the  fruit  of  communion.  It 
is  a  bequest  and  not  a  conquest.  This 
power  is  not  something  we  have  to  win; 
it  is  something  we  have  to  receive.  It  is 
not  something  we  have  to  gain ;  it  is  some- 
thing we  have  to  take.  "Be  made  power- 
ful in  the  Lord ! ' '  And  listen  again :  "  Ye 
shall  receive  power  when  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
come  upon  you.,,  That  power,  that  vital 
endowment  of  strength,  is  the  gift  of  God, 
one  of  the  ministries  of  the  divine  grace, 
and  it  is  offered  to  every  soldier  without 
money  and  without  price.  So  is  it  true  that 
our  first  necessity  in  battle  is  to  hasten 
away  to  the  Lord  to  receive  the  gifts  of 
the  soldier's  strength. 

But  not  only  is  there  the  imperative  need 
of  God  for  our  initial  strength,  but  for 
every  piece  of  armour  which  may  be  need- 
ful in  the  fight.  Armour  for  offence,  and 
armour  for  defence ;  armour  to  meet  every 
device  and  stratagem  with  which  we  may 
be  assailed.  c  I  propose  to  consider  this 
armour,  piece  by  piece,  and  over  and  over 


THE  INVISIBLE  ANTAGONISMS     23 

again  I  shall  have  to  tell  you  that  you  may 
find  every  piece  of  armour  in  the  abun- 
dantly stocked  and  open  and  free  armoury 
of  God.  And  therefore  do  I  say  again  that 
if  we  are  to  be  triumphant  over  our  an- 
tagonists, our  first  need  is  God.  "Seek 
ye  the  Lord."  "0  come,  let  us  kneel 
before  the  Lord  our  Maker.' ' 

And  then,  our  other  great  requirement  is 
the  ceaseless  co-operation  of  our  wills. 
The  life  of  a  Christian  soldier  is  not  a  con- 
tinuous reclining  on  "flowery  beds  of 
ease."  Having  obtained  the  strength  we 
must  ceaselessly  exercise  it  in  the  practice 
of  our  wills.  Listen  to  the  divine  challenge 
to  the  will:  "Be  made  powerful  in  the 
Lord!"  "Well,  then,  exercise  the  will  you 
have,  your  weak  will,  and  go  and  kneel  in 
humility  at  the  source  of  power,  and  receive 
the  promised  gift;  "Put  on  the  whole 
armour  of  God!"  Well,  then,  exercise 
the  will  and  go  to  the  armoury  of  grace  for 
thine  arms.  l '  Stand  therefore ! ' '  Well,  then,, 
having  received  the  gift  of  power,  exercise 
thy  will  in  stubborn  and  invincible  resist- 
ance. "Here  stand  I,"  said  one  who  had 
received  the  strength,  "Here  stand  I;  I 
can  do  no  other,  God  help  me ! "    "  Having 


24      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

done  all,  stand" — and  victory  shall  be 
yours!  In  the  name  of  God  the  Father, 
God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Spirit, 
victory  shall  most  certainly  be  yours ! 

Says  Dr.  Weymouth:  "  Stand  your 
ground  in  the  day  of  battle,  and  having 
fought  to  the  end  remain  victors  on  the 
field."  "Victors  on  the  field."  I  am 
thrilled  by  the  inspiring  word — "Victors 
on  the  field. ' '  After  every  temptation — the 
temptation  that  comes  to  me  in  sunshine, 
or  the  temptation  that  comes  to  me  in  the 
gloom — after  every  fight,  victors  on  the 
field!  The  Lord's  banner  flying,  His 
banner  of  love  and  grace ;  and  the  evil  one 
and  all  his  host  in  utter  rout,  and  in  full 

w 

and  dire  retreat! 

Soldiers  of  Christ  arise, 

And  put  your  armour  on; 
Strong  in  the  strength  which  God  supplies 

Through  His  eternal  Son. 


II 

THE  GIRDLE  OF 
TRUTH 


HOLY  FATHER,  we  humbly  pray  Thee  to  reveal  unto  us 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  Refine  our  discernments 
in  order  that  we  may  beJwld  them;  and  deepen  our  hearts  in 
order  that  we  may  long  to  possess  them.  Unveil  to  us  our 
poverty  so  that  we  may  seek  Thy  wealth.  Lead  us  through  meek- 
ness and  penitence  to  the  reception  of  spiritual  power.  May 
our  loins  be  girt  about  with  truth.  May  we  drink  deeply  at 
the  waters  of  promise  and  find  refreshment  in  immediate  duty. 
We  pray  that  Thou  wilt  bind  us  together  in  the  bonds  of  holy 
sympathy.  Help  us  to  gather  up  the  needs  of  others  in  com- 
mon intercession.  Make  us  ready  to  bear  the  burden  of  the 
race.  Quicken  our  imaginations  in  order  that  we  may  enter 
into  the  sorrows  of  Thy  children  in  every  land.  We  humbly 
pray  Thee  to  steady  our  faith  in  these  days  of  bewilderment. 
In  all  the  confusion  of  our  time  may  we  never  lose  sight  of  Thy 
throne.  In  all  the  obscuring  of  our  ideals  may  we  never  lose 
sight  of  Christ.  And  O,  Lord,  out  of  our  disorder  may  we 
be  led  into  larger  ways.  Let  Thy  Holy  Spirit  brood  over  us, 
quickening  all  that  is  full  of  sacred  promise,  and  destroying 
all  that  hinders  our  friendship  with  Thee.     Amen. 


n 

THE  GIRDLE  OF  TRUTH 

"Stand  therefore,  having  your 
loins  girt  about  with  truth." 
Eph.  6:14. 

THE  girdle  Was  just  a  strong  belt 
holding  the  different  pieces  of  a  sol- 
dier 's  armour  securely  in  their  place. 
Even  in  the  ordinary  Oriental  attire  the 
girdle  was  a  necessity.  Without  the  girdle 
the  loose,  flowing  garments  became  very 
cumbersome,  flapping  about  the  feet,  and 
especially  hindering  the  movements  in 
a  hostile  wind.  Even  the  most  graceful 
attire  became  an  entanglement  unless 
the  girdle  held  it  in  serviceable  bonds. 
But  the  necessity  of  a  girdle  was  still 
more  imperative  on  the  field  of  war.  In 
active  fighting  loose  pieces  of  armour 
would  be  like  embarrassing  articles  hang- 
ing on  the  soldier  rather  than  appro- 
priate implements  to  make  him  efficient. 

27 


28      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

Loose  armour  was  troublesome  and  dis- 
tressing, making  the  soldier  feel  soft,  and 
awkward,  and  unready,  giving  him  a  sense 
of  going  to  pieces.  The  belt  bound  the 
loose  pieces  together,  creating  a  healthy 
sense  of  firmness,  compactness,  and  making 
the  soldier  feel  that  he  had  everything  well 
in  hand,  and  enabling  him  to  meet  the 
enemy's  attack  with  united  strength  and 
confidence. 

Now  it  is  that  figure  of  the  military  belt 
which  the  apostle  is  using  in  our  text, 
"Let  your  loins  be  girt  about  with  truth.' ' 
The  soldier  of  Jesus  can  have  his  armour 
flapping  about  him  in  disorderly  array. 
He  can  be  loose  and  distracted*.  His  ener- 
gies can  be  scattered;  He  can  be  just  a 
mass  of  incoherences  and  inconsistencies 
in  the  presence  of  the  foe.  Or  a  soldier  of 
Jesus  can  be  firm,  and  collected,  and  de- 
cisive. He  can  be  --all  there,"  with  every 
ounce  of  his  strength  available  for  the  im- 
mediate fight.  And  the  apostle  teaches 
that  this  bracing  sense  of  collectedness, 
this  fine,  firm  feeling  of  moral  and  spirit- 
ual concentration,  can  only  be  obtained  by 
binding  the  entire  life  with  the  splendid 
and  tenacious  girdle  of  gospel  truth. 


THE  GIRDLE  OF  TRUTH  29 

I  want  to  approach  the  apostle's  cen- 
tral teaching  along  roads  which  will 
gather  up  the  testimony  of  common  ex- 
perience. We  all  know  the  strength  which 
is  imparted  to  a  life  when  it  is  girt  about 
with  firm  principle.  It  is  even  so  in  the  life 
of  a  boy  when  he  is  passing  his  earliest 
days  at  school*.  Is  there  anything  nobler 
to  contemplate  than  a  fine  boy  whose  life 
and  character  are  held  firm  and  free  in 
the  bond  and  girdle  of  moral  prin- 
ciple? It  is  even  so  in  the  later 
days  of  college  and  university.  What 
college  or  university  graduate  has  not 
admired  the  decisive  strength  of  some 
man  or  woman  whose  character  was  held 
in  splendid  consistency  by  the  girdle 
of  moral  conviction!  What  joyful  and 
boisterous  liberty  there  is  in  such  a  life! 
And  it  is  all  the  more  free  and  jubilant 
because  it  recognizes  fields  of  license  into 
which  it  never  strays.  And  in  the  broader 
fields  of  the  world  we  have  the  witness  of 
the  same  experience.  Life  that  is  held 
in  a  girdle  quadruples  its  strength.  Life 
which  is  bound  together  even  by  a  strong 
expediency  gathers  force  in  the  bondage. 
A  life  which  is  held  in  the  constraint  of  a 


30      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

policy  is  far  mightier  than  a  life  which  is 
trailing  in  scattered  indifference.  But  a 
life  which  is  bound  together  in  moral  prin- 
ciple, having  all  its  faculties  and  powers 
gathered  under  one  control,  has  tremen- 
dous force  both  of  attack  and  resistance. 

You  may  study  the  contents  of  that  state- 
ment and  find  abundant  illustrations  in 
the  lives  of  men  like  Lincoln,  and  Maz- 
zini,  and  Gladstone,  and  John  Bright, 
and  John  Morley,  and  James  Bryce.  All 
these  men,  whether  we  approve  or  dis- 
approve their  political  programmes  and 
ambitions,  are  men  whose  characters  reveal 
no  loose  ends,  no  trailing  garments,  no  un- 
chartered opinions,  no  vagrant  and  un- 
licensed moods,  but  rather  a  moral  whole- 
ness and  solidity  which  we  know  will  re- 
tain its  splendid  consistency  in  the  teeth 
of  the  fiercest  storm.  Yes,  even  in  the 
ways  of  the  world  men  recognize  the  man 
who  is  wearing  the  belt  of  principle,  and 
whose  loins  are  girt  about  with  truth. 

But  the  apostle  Paul  is  thinking  of 
something  more  than  moral  principle, 
splendid  as  is  the  influence  of  a  great 
principle  on  the  healthy  action  of  a  life. 
He  is   thinking  of  something  even  finer 


THE  GIRDLE  OF  TRUTH  31 

and  deeper  than  this,  and  in  which  the 
moral  principle  is  included.  He  is  think- 
ing of  a  soul  belted  with  the  more  dis- 
tinctive truth  of  the  Scriptures,  a  soul  girt 
about  with  gospel  truth  and  with  the 
ample  promises  of  God.  He  is  thinking  of 
a  man  who  takes  some  great  truth  of  rev- 
elation, some  mighty  word  of  life,  or  some 
broad  and  bracing  promise  of  grace,  and 
who  belts  it  about  his  soul  and  wears  it 
on  active  service  in  seeking  to  do  the 
sovereign  will.  I  know  not  where  to 
begin,  or  where  to  end,  when  I  turn  to  the 
pages  of  biography  for  examples  of  men 
and  women  who  have  worn  the  girdle  of 
gospel  truth  and  promise.  Let  me  dip 
here  and  there  in  the  many  and  brilliant 
records. 

Well,  then,  let  us  begin  with  Martin 
Luther.  It  is  one  of  the  strong  charac- 
teristics of  Luther  that  he  is  ever  wearing 
the  girdle  of  truth,  and  bracing  himself 
with  the  promises  of  grace.  I  open  his 
letters  almost  at  random,  in  the  great 
year  of  his  life  when  he  defied  the  pope, 
and  opposed  himself  to  the  strength  of 
uncounted  hosts.  He  is  writing  to  Me- 
lanchthon  on  May  26,  1521:    "Do  not  be 


32     THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

troubled  in  spirit;  but  sing  the  Lord's 
song  in  the  night,  as  we  are  commanded, 
and  I  shall  join  in.  Let  us  only  be  con- 
cerned about  the  Word."  There  you  find 
him  putting  on  the  girdle!  Once  again  I 
find  him  writing  a  letter  to  a  poor  little 
company  of  Christians  at  "Wittenberg:  "I 
send  you  this  thirty-seventh  Psalm  for 
your  consolation  and  instruction.  Take 
comfort  and  remain  steadfast.  Do  not  be 
alarmed  through  the  raging  of  the  god- 
less.' '  There  again  he  is  wearing  the 
girdle  and  urging  others  to  wear  it:  His 
loins  are  girt  about  with  truth. 

Then  again  there  is  John  Wesley.  Let 
me  give  you  a  glimpse  of  that  noble  ser- 
vant of  the  spirit  as  he  is  putting  on  the 
girdle  of  truth:  "When  I  opened  the  New 
Testament  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning 
my  eyes  fell  on  the  words,  '  There  are 
given  unto  us  exceeding  great  and  pre- 
cious promises  that  we  should  be  partakers 
of  the  divine  nature.'  "  He  girt  his  loins 
with  that  truth.  "Just  before  I  left  the 
room  I  opened  the  Book  again,  and  this 
sentence  gleamed  from  the  open  page, 
1  Thou  art  not  far  from  the  Kingdom  of 
God.'  "     And  he  girt  himself  with  that 


THE  GIRDLE  OF  TRUTH  33 

promise.  He  went  to  St.  Paul's  that  morn- 
ing, and  in  the  chant  there  came  to  him 
this  personal  message  from  the  Word :  ' '  0 
Israel,  trust  in  the  Lord,  for  in  the  Lord 
there  is  mercy  and  in  Him  there  is  plen- 
teous redemption,  and  He  shall  redeem 
Israel  from  all  his  sins.,,  Do  you  not  see 
this  noble  knight  belting  himself  for  the 
great  crusade  that  even  now  awaits  him 
at  the  gate? 

Then  I  think  I  will  mention  General 
Gordon,  who  laid  down  his  life  at  Khar- 
toum. Only,  if  you  want  to  see  Gordon 
girding  himself  with  truth,  and  see  it  ade- 
quately, you  will  have  to  quote  from 
almost  every  letter  he  ever  wrote,  and 
especially  his  wonderful  correspondence 
with  his  sister.  Take  this  sentence  from 
a  letter  written  in  Cairo  in  1884:  "I  have 
taken  the  words,  'He  will  hide  me  in  His 
hands';  good-night,  my  dear  sister,  I  am 
not  moved,  even  a  little."  Or  take  this 
sentence  from  a  letter  written  in  Khar- 
toum toward  the  end  of  his  days:  "This 
word  has  been  given  me,  'It  is  nothing  to 
our  God  to  help  with  many  or  with  few,' 
and  I  now  take  my  worries  more  quietly 
than  before."     He  put  on  the  girdle  of 


34      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

truth,  and  his  worries  were  leashed  in  the 
girdle,  and  his  soul  was  quieted  in  gospel 
confidence  and  serenity. 

And  I  had  other  examples  to  offer  you, 
but  these  must  suffice.  I  had  on  my  table 
David  Livingstone,  and  John  Woolman, 
and  Josephine  Butler,  and  Frances  Wil- 
lard,  and  Catherine  Booth,  and  I  wanted 
to  give  you  glimpses  of  all  these  notable 
soldiers  of  the  Lord  girding  themselves 
for  the  open  field.  But  their  names  shall 
be  their  witness.  I  might  have  quoted, 
had  I  the  knowledge  and  the  time,  the  tes- 
timony of  all  the  saints  who  from  their 
labours  rest.  And  concerning  them  all  we 
should  have  seen  that  their  loins  were  girt 
about  with  truth. 

Now  it  was  to  spiritual  equipment  of 
this  kind  that  the  apostle  was  directing 
the  little  company  of  Christians  at  Ephe- 
sus.  Think  of  their  surroundings: — the 
overwhelming  worldliness,  the  dominating 
influence  of  an  alien  religion,  the  fierce 
antagonisms  of  popular  customs  and  tra- 
ditions, and  all  of  these  backed  by  in- 
visible hosts  of  wickedness  in  heavenly 
places.  Now  what  chance  would  a  loose, 
shuffling  Christian  have  in  circumstances 


THE  GIRDLE  OF  TRUTH  35 

so  hostile  as  these?  The  Christian  in 
Ephesus,  if  he  is  to  be  a  conqueror,  must 
not  slouch  along  the  way  with  a  loose, 
hang-dog  sort  of  air,  but  rather  with  all 
the  poise  and  movement  of  a  lion.  The 
Christian  must  belt  himself  about  with 
big  truth,  truth  that  will  not  only  confirm 
but  invigorate,  truth  that  will  not  only 
define  his  creed  but  vitalize  his  soul.  And 
these  Ephesian  Christians  followed  the 
apostle's  counsel  and  they  girded  them- 
selves with  truth,  and  so  were  able  to 
stand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having  done 
all,  to  stand. 

Let  us  watch  how  they  did  it.  They 
had  been  converted  to  the  Christian  faith 
and  life.  One  sure  effect  of  their  conver- 
sion was  a  more  vivid  sense  of  sin.  After 
their  conversion  their  own  sinfulness 
began  to  reveal  itself  in  more  awful  relief. 
The  nearer  they  got  to  the  light  the  more 
their  sin  appeared,  just  like  invisible  writ- 
ing emerging  from  its  secrecy  when  ex- 
posed to  the  open  fire.  They  saw  their 
sin,  and  they  saw  the  sin  of  the  people. 
They  were  like  the  prophet  Isaiah,  to 
whom  also  there  came  the  awakening 
sense  of  sin,  and  with  him  they  could  have 


36      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

oried:    "Woe  is  me,  for  I  am  unclean, 
and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of 
nnclean  lips."    Well,  now,  how  could  that 
little  company  of  Christians  deal  with  the 
sin!     It  was  like  trying  to  drain  a  vast 
and  bitter  marsh  that  was  fed  by  secret 
springs.     How   could   they   do   it!     And 
the  tremendous  task  only  emphasized  their 
weakness,  and  might  have  depressed  them 
into  a  feeling  of  helplessness  and  despair. 
And  we  share  that  feeling  to-day.    Think 
of  the  colossal  sins  of  Europe,  and  think 
of  the  sins  and  moral  indifference  of  the 
great  cities.     If  the  sin  be  like  a  bitter 
marsh,  what  is  going  to  drain  it?     Nay, 
how  are  we  going  to  get  the  confidence 
that  it  can  be  drained!     Well  what  did 
Paul  do,  and  what  did  he  teach  his  fellow- 
disciples  to  do!    This  is  what  he  did.    He 
found  something  even  bigger  than  sin,  and 
he  girded  himself  with  the  bigger  thing 
when  he   confronted   the   appalling  task. 
Listen  to  him :  * '  Where  sin  abounds  grace 
does  much  more  abound."    Yes,  sin  is  a 
big  thing,  but  grace  is  a  bigger  thing;  the 
biggest  thing  even  in  this  rebellious  and 
indifferent  world".     Sin  is  a  strong  thing, 
but  grace  is  a  stronger  thing,  even  the 


THE  GIRDLE  OF  TRUTH  37 

strongest  thing  in  a  revolting  and  alien- 
ated world.  Well  then,  let  your  loins  be 
girt  about  with  that  truth !  Put  it  around 
your  fears  and  uncertainties  like  a  strong 
girdle.  Wear  it  ever  night  and  day.  Go 
up  to  every  stupendous  task  in  the  vigour 
of  its  bracing  grip.  Begin  at  the  piece 
of  the  bitter  marsh  nearest  to  you,  and 
begin  to  drain  it.  And  wear  the  truth — 
"  Where  sin  abounds,  grace  doth  much 
more  abound."  Wear  the  truth,  say  it, 
sing  it,  and  you  will  be  amazed  how  the 
difficulty  will  be  subdued;  for  the  mouth 
of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

There  was  something  else  in  Ephesus 
for  which  these  Christians  needed  the 
girdle  of  truth.  Ephesus  was  a  vast  city, 
and  these  Christians  were  only  a  tiny  and 
obscure  fellowship.  And  even  this  small 
fellowship  had  to  be  broken  up  during  the 
hours  of  labour,  and  in  those  hours  each 
believer  had  to  stand  alone.  One  of  them 
was  perhaps  a  slave,  and  there  was  no 
fellow-believer  in  the  house.  Or  perhaps 
one  was  a  soldier,  and  there  wasn't 
another  believer  in  his  regiment,  and  he 
had  to  face  it  all  alone:  We  have  been 
reading  that  one  reason  for  the  massed 


38      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

solidity  of  the  German  advance  is  that  the 
individual  German  soldier  craves  the 
mystic  strength  of  fellowship,  and  desires 
even  the  physical  touch  of  a  comrade-in- 
arms. I  can  understand  it.  And  so  could 
the  Ephesian  Christians  have  understood 
it.  They  felt  strong  when  they  touched 
their  fellow-believers,  and  they  felt  weak- 
ened when  the  visible  communion  was 
broken. 

What,  then,  shall  they  do  when  alone? 
They  must  let  their  loins  be  girt  about 
with  truth:  But  what  truth?  What 
did  the  apostle  Paul  wear  in  such  isola- 
tion? He  took  this  girdle  and  wrapped  it 
round  his  loins :  ' '  He  loved  me,  and  gave 
Himself  for  me."  And  that  girdle  gives 
a  man  a  sense  of  glorious  fellowship  along 
the  emptiest  and  loneliest  road.  Put  that 
girdle  on,  lonely  soul!  "He  loves  me,  and 
gave  Himself  for  me!"  Wear  it  ever, 
night  and  day.  And  wear  it  consciously! 
Say  it;  sing  it — "He  loved  me,  and  gave 
Himself  for  me."  "Let  your  loins  be  girt 
about  with  that  truth." 

And  so  have  we  seen  these  Ephesian 
soldiers  putting  on  the  girdle.  In  the 
presence  of  threat  and  persecution  they 


THE  GIRDLE  OF  TRUTH  39 

wore  this  girdle,  "We  are  more  than 
conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us." 
When  their  circumstances  were  a  medley 
and  a  confusion,  full  of  ups  and  downs, 
of  strange  comings  and  goings,  of  mingled 
joy  and  sorrow,  foul  and  fair,  they  wore 
this  girdle:  "All  things  work  together  for 
good  to  them  that  love  God:"  And  thus 
they  were  braced  for  all  the  changes  of 
the  ever-changing  day. 

So  do  I  urge  my  fellow-soldiers  in  this 
later  day  to  wear  the  belt.  "Let  your 
loins  be  girt  about  with  truth.' '  Let  us 
pray  the  good  Lord  to  help  us  even  now 
to  put  it  on.  Is  the  girdle  we  need  this 
— "He  loved  me  and  gave  Himself  for 
me  V '  Well,  put  it  on.  Or  is  it  this — ' '  We 
have  forgiveness  through  His  blood  ?" 
Put  it  on.  Or  is  it  this — "I  will  come 
again  and  receive  you  unto  myself?"  Put 
it  on.  Or  is  it  this — "In  My  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions V9  Put  it  on. 
Or  is  it  this — "I  will  never  leave  thee 
nor  forsake  thee?"  Put  it  on.  Or  is  it 
this  great  girdle — "When  thou  passest 
through  the  waters  I  will  be  with  thee, 
and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not 
overthrow     thee,     when     thou     walkest 


40     THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

through  the  fire  thou  shalt  not  be  burned, 
neither  shall  the  flame  kindle  upon  thee?" 
Put  on  the  girdle,  wear  it  ever,  night  and 
day,  and  thou  shalt  find  that  in  the 
strength  of  gospel  truth  thou  are  competent 
to  meet  all  circumstances,  and  triumph- 
antly perfect  thy  Saviour's  will. 


Ill 

THE    BREASTPLATE 
OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS 


ALMIGHTY  GOD,  OUR  FATHER,  it  is  by  Thy  grace  that 
we  attain  unto  holiness,  and  it  is  by  Thy  light  that  we  find 
wisdom.  We  humbly  pray  that  Thy  grace  and  light  may  be 
given  unto  us  so  that  we  may  come  into  the  liberty  of  purity 
and  truth.  Wilt  Thou  graciously  exalt  our  spirits  and  enable 
us  to  live  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus.  Impart  unto 
us  a  deep  dissatisfaction  with  everything  that  is  low,  and  mean, 
and  unclean,  and  create  within  us  such  pure  desire  that  we  may 
appreciate  the  things  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for  them  that 
love  Thee.  Wilt  Thou  receive  us  as  guests  of  Thy  table.  Give 
us  the  glorious  sense  of  Thy  presence,  and  the  precious  priv- 
ilege of  intimate  communion.  Feed  us  with  the  bread  of  life; 
nourish  all  our  spiritual  powers;  help  us  to  find  our  delight 
in  such  things  as  please  Thee.  Give  us  strength  to  fight  the  good 
fight  of  faith.  Give  us  holy  courage,  that  we  may  not  be  daunted 
by  any  fear,  or  turn  aside  from  our  appointed  task.  Make 
us  calm  when  we  have  to  tread  an  unfamiliar  road,  and  may 
Thy  presence  give  us  companionship  divine.    Amen. 

) 


Ill 

THE  BEEASTPLATE  OF  RIGHT- 
EOUSNESS 

"Having    on    the   breastplate   of 
righteousness."  Ephesians  6 :  14. 

THIS  is  counsel  given  to  a  little  com- 
pany of  Christians,  so  little  as  to 
be  almost  submerged  and  lost  in 
the  great  unfriendly  city  of  Ephesus,  so  lit- 
tle as  to  be  like  a  tiny  boat  in  the  midst  of 
a  vast  and  threatening  sea.  A  missionary 
of  the  gospel  has  been  among  them  and 
they  have  received  the  word  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  They  have  answered  the  constraint 
of  redeeming  love  and  they  have  confessed 
their  faith  in  Christ.  And  what  has  hap- 
pened? Their  confession  has  compelled 
their  separation  from  many  of  their  old 
fellowships  and  attachments.  They  are 
loosened  from  many  of  their  old  affec- 
tions. The  forces  that  were  once  friendly 
to  them  have  become  unfriendly,  and  they 

43 


44     THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

are  now  confronted  by  overwhelming  hos- 
tilities on  every  side. 

We  mnst  try  to  feel  the  power  and  peril 
of  their  isolation  if  we  would  understand 
the  force  of  the  apostle's  words.  Imagine 
then  the  lot  of  some  German  in  Germany 
who  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Allies,  or 
conceive  the  lot  of  some  Englishman  in 
England  who  sided  with  Germany,  and  you 
may  realize  the  heat  and  fierceness  of  the 
antagonism  with  which  these  immature 
Christians  were  surrounded  in  the  city  of 
Ephesus.  But  their  peril  was  not  only 
found  in  the  hostility  of  their  old  friends. 
There  was  the  enervating  moral  atmos- 
phere which  they  had  to  breathe;  there 
was  the  recurring  inclination  of  their  own 
riotous  passions;  there  was  a  remnant  of 
appetite  for  the  old  delights;  and  there 
was  the  nervous  fear  that  the  forces 
against  them  might  prove  overwhelming: 

What  should  they  do  ?  How  should  they 
be  able  to  stand?  And  especially  how 
should  they  be  able  to  stand  in  the  evil 
day,  the  day  when  external -circumstances 
might  culminate  in  some  terrific  assault, 
or  when  their  own  passions  might  rise 
against  them  in  some  particularly  fierce 


BREASTPLATE  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS   45 

resurgence?  Well,  this  chapter  records 
the  counsel  of  a  great  and  experienced 
apostle,  a  mighty  soldier  of  the  Lord,  in 
which  he  advises  these  young  recruits  of 
the  Kingdom  what  armour  they  must 
wear  if  they  would  be  victorious  on  the 
field.  ' '  Put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God. ' ' 
And  we  are  considering  these  noble  pieces 
of  armour  if  haply  we  too  may  possess  the 
equipment  and  so  turn  our  days  of  battle 
into  days  of  glorious  victory. 

And  now,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  I  bring  you  this  piece  of  armour, 
"the  breastplate  of  righteousness,"  and  it 
is  to  be  worn  in  our  modern  warfare  in 
this  difficult  city  of  New  York.  What  is 
this  breastplate  of  righteousness?  What 
indeed  was  the  Roman  breastplate  from 
which  the  figure  of  speech  is  taken?  Un- 
fortunately, the  word  breastplate  is  very 
inaccurate  and  misleading.  The  piece  of 
armour  to  which  the  apostle  refers  pro- 
tected the  back  as  well  as  the  breast,  and 
in  addition  it  gave  protection  to  the  neck 
and  the  hips.  It  would  be  much  more  truly 
described  by  the  phrase,  "a  coat  of  mail," 
because  it  was  a  sort  of  vest  made  of  small 
metal  plates,  overlapping  one  another  like 


46      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

shield  upon  shield,  wrapping  the  body  in 
its  defences,  and  protecting  the  vital 
organs,  back  and  front,  from  every  assault 
of  the  foe. 

Let  us  then  venture  to  lift  this  more 
accurate  description  into  our  text, ' '  Put  on 
righteousness  like  a  coat  of  mail,  wear  it 
in  all  your  comings  and  goings  in  the  city 
of  Ephesus,  and  in  it  meet  all  the  malicious 
antagonisms  of  devils  and  of  men.,,  Now 
I  wonder  how  the  apostle's  counsel  af- 
fected these  fearful  struggling  Christians 
in  Ephesus.  Let  us  look  at  them.  Let  us 
assume  that  we  are  with  them,  and  that 
we  are  about  to  give  them  the  counsel 
offered  in  the  text.  How  will  they  receive 
it?  Remember  that  they  have  just  been 
lifted  out  of  the  horrible  pit  and  out  of 
the  miry  clay  of  long-continued  sin,  and 
that  they  are  oppressed  by  their  own  weak- 
ness and  helplessness,  and  by  the  strength 
of  the  evil  inclinations  and  habits  which 
they  have  just  renounced;  Well,  now,  let 
us  offer  these  inexperienced  disciples  the 
apostle's  counsel:  "Put  on  righteousness 
like  a  coat  of  mail ! ' '  Why,  they  just  look 
at  you  in  utter  despair!  It  is  their  very 
weakness    that    they    cannot    forge    and 


BREASTPLATE  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS  47 

weave  such  a  coat  of  mail  to  cover 
them  in  the  day  of  battle.  The  counsel 
would  surely  seem  like  the  taunting  cry  of 
the  foe. 

Suppose  we  had  waylaid  poor  Christian 
in  "The  Pilgrim's  Progress"  when  he  was 
struggling  with  his  oppressive  burden  up 
the  hill,  and  with  the  fiery  darts  of  the 
devil  hurtling  around  him  on  every  side, 
and  suppose  we  had  called  out  to  him, 
"Put  on  righteousness  like  a  coat  of 
mail!,,  We  should  surely  only  have 
added  heaviness  to  his  burden  and 
crushed  him  to  the  ground  in  despair. 
"Put  on  righteousness  like  a  coat  of 
mail?"  he  would  have  moaned  in  his  reply, 
"My  righteousness  is  like  unto  filthy 
rags!" 

One  poor,  sorrowful  correspondent 
wrote  to  me  some  weeks  ago  who  was  the 
victim  of  alcohol  and  drugs.  For  years  he 
had  walked  in  ways  of  uncleanness,  but  he 
was  now  just  waking  from  his  awful  sleep 
and  turning  his  thoughts  toward  home. 
Suppose  now  I  had  written  to  him  and 
said  "Put  on  righteousness  like  a  coat  of 
mail ! "  I  think  his  eyes  would  have  dulled 
into  weariness  again,  and  he  would  have 


48    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR    OF  GOD 

slipped  back  to  his  drugs  and  his  despair. 
This  cannot  be  the  meaning  of  the  apos- 
tle's counsel,  or  this  coat  of  mail  would 
never  be  worn. 

What,  then,  does  the  apostle  mean  when 
he  says  "Put  on  righteousness  like  a  coat 
of  mail ' '  f  Let  us  seek  for  light  in  his  own 
life,  for  he  is  a  soldier  as  well  as  a  coun- 
sellor, and  we  shall  find  him  following  his 
own  advice  and  wearing  the  armour  which 
he  recommends  to  others.  Let  us  listen 
then  to  this  word,  and  let  us  mark  its  sig- 
nificance; "Touching  the  righteousness 
which  is  in  the  law  I  was  found  blame- 
less.' '  That  seems  like  an  invincible  pro- 
tection. "Touching  the  righteousness 
which  is  in  the  law  I  was  found  blame- 
less!" But  there  was  nothing  invincible 
about  it.  It  was  no  more  a  coat  of  mail 
than  an  ordinary  vest,  and  the  devil  smote 
through  the  defences  a  dozen  times  a  day. 

Listen  again  to  the  apostle  when  he  has 
passed  into  the  intimate  friendship  of 
Christ:  "Not  having  a  righteousness  of 
mine  own."  Mark  that;  yea  verily  mark 
that; — "Not  having  a  righteousness  of 
mine  own."  This  coat  of  mail  he  wears 
is  not  his  own  righteousness.  Whose,  then 


BREASTPLATE  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS    49 

is  it?  It  is  the  righteousness  of  Christ. 
As  Paul  declares :  "  It  is  the  righteousness 
which  is  through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith.' ' 
The  apostle  is  wearing  the  righteousness 
of  Christ,  and  he  wears  it  like  a  coat  of 
mail,  covering  back  and  front,  shielding 
him  before  and  behind. 

I  want  to  pause  a  little  there  because 
we  are  very  near  one  of  the  deepest  mys- 
teries in  the  gospel  of  grace,  and  I  want 
to  state  the  mystery  as  plainly  as  words  can 
express  it.  This,  then,  is  what  the  Scrip- 
tures state:  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was 
absolutely  righteous,  so  righteous  that 
human  imagination  and  human  dream  can- 
not conceive  it  excelled.  His  holy  obedi- 
ence was  perfect.  There  was  no  rent  in 
the  vesture  of  His  holiness.  There  was  no 
frayed  edge,  tthere  was  no  imperfect 
strand,  there  were  no  stains.  "In  Him 
was  no  sin."    We  must  begin  there. 

And  now  let  us  assume  that  a  poor  peni- 
tent comes  to  this  perfectly  holy  Lord. 
Let  us  make  the  sinner  as  nauseous  and 
repulsive  as  you  please.  Let  us  make  him 
a  moral  leper,  the  wretched  victim  of  un- 
cleanness,    befouled    by   his    own    habits, 


50      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

consumed  in  his  own  sin,  eaten  without 
and  within.  That  poor  penitent  sinner, 
laden  with  defilement,  comes  to  the  holy 
Lord  Jesus,  humbly  seeking  His  favour 
and  grace. 

Now  what  happens  !  What  do  the  Scrip- 
tures tell  us  about  the  happening?  They 
tell  us  that  the  holy  Saviour  covers  the 
sinner  with  the  robe  of  His  own  right- 
eousness. The  Lord  puts  His  merits  on  to 
the  sinner  who  has  no  merits.  He  puts 
His  obedience  on  to  the  sinner  who  has 
nothing  but  a  record  of  disobedience.  He 
puts  His  spiritual  conquests  on  to  the  sin- 
ner who  is  torn  and  scarred  by  nothing 
but  appalling  defeats.  He  puts  His  holi- 
ness on  to  a  sinner  who  has  been  raked 
by  defilements.  That  is  the  proclamation 
of  the  gospel.  That  poor  penitent  believ- 
ing sinner  stands  now  before  the  devil, 
and  before  men  and  angels,  and  before  the 
presence  of  God,  clothed  in  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ!  What,  in  all  his  imper- 
fections? Yes.  In  all  his  weaknesses? 
Yes.  With  the  scorching  marks  of  hell- 
fire  still  upon  him?  Yes.  He  is  covered 
with  the  robe  of  Christ's  righteousness. 
He  wears  the  merits  and  the  strength  and 


BREASTPLATE  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS  51 

the  defences  of  the  Lord's  obedience.  Have 
we  not  read  of  one  who  wrapped  himself 
in  his  country's  flag  and  then  dared  an 
alien  power  to  fire?  It  is  an  altogether 
imperfect  illustration,  but  it  offers  me 
some  faint  and  helpful  analogy  when  I 
hear  the  saints  give  this  witness:  "He 
hath  clothed  me  with  the  robe  of  right- 
eousness, and  covered  me  with  the  gar- 
ments of  salvation.' '  No,  it  was  not  Paul's 
own  righteousness  which  constituted  his 
coat  of  mail.  It  was  the  righteousness  of 
his  Lord. 

Now,  this  is  the  word  of  grace,  and  this 
is  the  message  of  the  gospel:  It  is  this  of 
which  Toplady  sings  in  his  immortal  hymn 
— "Rock  of  Ages": 

"Naked,  look  to  Thee  for  dress." 

It  is  this  also  of  which  Charles  Wesley 
sings  in  his  also  immortal  hymn — "Jesus, 
Lover  of  my  Soul": 

"I  am  all  unrighteousness, 
Thou  art  full  of  truth  and  grace." 

It  is  this  which  was  discovered  by  George 
Fox,    the    founder    of    the    Society    of 


52      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

Friends,  and  of  which  he  tells  us  so  rap- 
turously in  the  early  pages  of  his  journal. 
It  was  this  which  John  Bunyan  found,  and 
of  which  he  tells  us  in  the  pages  of  ' '  Grace 
Abounding":  "One  day,  as  I  was  passing 
into  the  field,  and  that  too  with  some 
dashes  on  my  conscience,  suddenly  this 
sentence  fell  upon  my  soul,  'Thy  right- 
eousness is  in  heaven, '  and  me  thought 
that  I  saw  with  the  eyes  of  my  soul,  Jesus 
Christ  at  God's  right  hand.  There,  I  saw, 
was  my  righteousness ;  so  that  wherever  I 
was,  or  whatever  I  was  doing,  God  could 
not  say  of  me,  He  wants  my  righteousness, 
for  that  was  just  before  Him.  I  also  saw, 
moreover,  that  it  was  not  my  good  frame 
of  heart  that  made  my  righteousness  bet- 
ter, nor  yet  my  bad  frame  that  made  my 
righteousness  worse ;  for  my  righteousness 
was  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  the  same  yes- 
terday, to-day  and  forever.  Now  did  my 
chains  fall  off  my  legs  indeed;  I  was 
loosened  from  my  afflictions  and  irons. 
.  .  .  Now  went  I  also  home  rejoicing  for 
the  grace  and  love  of  God."  All  these 
men,  at  the  beginning  of  their  Christian 
life,  were  covered  not  with  a  righteousness 
of  their  own,  but  with  the  l'ighteousness 


BREASTPLATE  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS    53 

of  Christ,  and  they  could  sing  with  Paul 
that  they  were  clothed  in  the  garments 
of  His  salvation.  Their  coat  of  mail  was 
the  righteousness  of  Christ. 

Now  I  recognize,  and  I  experience  the 
difficulty,  of  realizing  all  this,  and  I  sym- 
pathize with  you  in  the  poverty  of  our 
apprehension.  But  I  think  our  difficulty 
is  in  some  ways  occasioned  by  the  inade- 
quacy of  all  figures  of  speech  to  convey 
to  us  the  real  vitality  of  the  truth.  For 
instance,  a  coat  of  mail  is  something  de- 
tached, separate  and  external,  and  so  is  a 
robe,  and  they  have  no  vital  relation  to 
the  body  which  wears  them.  And  there- 
fore, when  we  think  of  the  righteousness 
of  Christ  covering  another  like  a  robe  or 
a  coat  of  mail,  it  appears  something  un- 
real, a  superficial  ministry,  or  even  a  fine 
pretence.  We  think  of  some  villain  clothed 
in  the  garb  of  a  minister,  but  all  the  more 
a  villain  because  of  the  robes  which  cover 
him.  Or  we  think  of  some  vile  woman 
wearing  the  habits  of  a  nun,  and  all  the 
more  vile  because  of  the  significant  gar- 
ments in  which  she  is  clothed.  A  leprous 
sinner  wearing  the  robe  of  Christ's  right- 
eousness!    It   all   appears   detached  and 


54      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

superficial,  like  a  climbing  rose  hiding  a 
rubbish  heap,  or  some  lovely  ferns  and 
greenery  concealing  an  open  sewer.  There 
appears  no  deep  reality  in  it, — a  sinner 
just  covered  with  the  robe  of  Christ's  holi- 
ness, and  wearing  the  Lord's  righteous- 
ness as  a  coat  of  mail. 

Yes,  I  admit  that  the  figures  all  fail. 
The  figure  of  a  robe  leaves  the  sinner  and 
the  Saviour  in  no  vital  relation.  And  so 
it  is  with  the  coat  of  mail.  But  in  the 
blessed  reality  there  is  no  detachment. 
There  is  union  between  the  sinner  and  the 
Saviour  of  the  most  profound  and  vital 
kind.  You  must  remember  our  assump- 
tion; the  sinner  who  comes  to  the  Saviour 
comes  in  faith,  and  in  penitence  and  in 
prayer,  and  these  things  never  leave  a  soul 
separate  and  detached  from  the  life  and 
love  of  the  Lord.  Faith  itself,  even  amid 
human  relationships,  is  never  a  dividing 
ministry;  it  always  consolidates  and 
unites.  You  may  trace  the  vital  unifying 
influence  of  faith  in  a  score  of  relations. 
The  faith  which  a  patient  has  in  a  doctor 
is  a  minister  of  very  vital  union  in  every 
effort  to  recover  the  lost  genius  of  health. 
The  faith  which  a  pupil  has  in  a  teacher 


BREASTPLATE  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS  55 

unites  the  two  in  a  very  vital  relation,  and 
puts  the  pupil  into  communion  with  the 
knowledge  which  is  stored  up  in  the  teach- 
er's mind.  The  faith  which  one  man  has 
in  another  incorporates  the  two  in  one. 
Faith  always  unifies;  it  never  divides. 

And  all  this  has  its  supreme  application 
in  the  relation  of  the  soul  to  Christ.  A 
poor  penitent  sinner  who  comes  to  the 
Lord  in  faith  becomes  one  with  the  Lord 
in  the  profoundest  union  which  the  mind 
of  man  can  conceive;  Faith  in  Christ 
unites  the  soul  with  Christ  just  as  in  graft- 
ing the  engrafted  scion  becomes  one  with 
the  vital  stock. 

Now  this  is  the  beginning  of  our  rea- 
soning. We  are  assuming  a  poor,  peni- 
tent, weary  soul  flinging  himself  by  faith 
on  Christ,  and  thereby  becoming  one  with 
Christ,  one  with  all  He  is ;  one  with  all  He 
has  been ;  one  with  all  He  shall  be,  sharing 
His  merits,  His  holiness,  His  obedience! 
By  faith  in  Christ  I  become  one  with 
Christ,  and  all  He  is  is  thrown  over  me! 
And  now  before  the  devil  I  stand  as  one 
in  Christ;  and  in  the  day  of  judgment  I 
shall  stand  as  one  in  Christ,  one  with  Him 
in  spite  of  all  the  sins  of  my  past,  and  all 


56      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

the  weaknesses  and  immaturities  of  the 
present.  "Thou  hast  covered  me  with  the 
robe  of  righteousness,  and  clothed  me  in 
the  garment  of  salvation.' '  I  wear  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  and  I  wear  it  as 
a  coat  of  mail. 

Now  is  not  that  a  strong  defence?  Go 
back  to  the  illustration  of  grafting.  I  saw 
a  young  graft  which  had  just  been  newly 
related  to  a  strong  and  healthy  stock.  The 
graft  still  looked  very  poor  and  weak  and 
sickly,  but  it  had  become  vitally  one  with 
the  healthy  stock;  it  stood  no  longer  in 
its  own  strength.  All  the  resources  of  the 
stock  were  thrown  about  it,  the  merits  of 
the  stock  were  now  the  scion's,  all  the 
victories  of  its  yesterdays,  and  all  the 
sap  and  energies  of  to-morrow.  The  stock 
is  to  the  scion  as  a  coat  of  mail!  And  so 
it  is  with  the  soul  which  has  become  by 
faith  the  scion  of  the  Lord. 

"All  my  trust  on  Thee  is  stayed, 
All  my  help  from  Thee  I  bring ; 
Cover  my  defenseless  head 
"With  the  shadow  of  Thy  wing." 

The  righteousness  of  Christ  is  the  breast- 
plate of  the  soul. 


BREASTPLATE  OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS  57 

Now  let  us  gather  up  our  practical  con- 
clusions'. The  righteousness  of  Christ  be- 
comes immediately  mine  by  the  act  and 
attitude  of  faith.  Yea,  verily,  the  most 
leprous  and  unclean  soul  in  this  city,  with 
a  history  unutterably  loathesome,  whose 
faith  looks  up  tremblingly  to  the  Saviour, 
is  immediately  covered  with  the  robe  of 
Christ's  righteousness,  for  by  faith  he  im- 
mediately becomes  one  with  the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ.  By  faith  I  can  here  and 
now  become  one  with  Christ;  however 
poor  and  wretched  I  be,  and  however  sin- 
ful I  have  been,  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  becomes  the  armour  of  my  soul. 
You  say  that  is  very  dogmatic.  Yes, 
blessed  be  God,  it  is  dogmatic,  but  it  is 
justified  dogmatism,  for  it  is  the  glorious 
dogmatism  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

And  covered  with  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  that  imputed  righteousness  be- 
comes progressively  mine  in  the  appropri- 
ation of  experience.  His  life  flows  into 
me  like  the  life  of  stock  into  scion,  and 
all  through  my  days  I  am  assimilating 
more  and  more  the  righteousness  which 
covers  me.  His  covering  righteousness 
becomes  more  and  more  my  rectitude.  His 


58      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

covering  holiness  becomes  more  and  more 
my  obedience.  His  righteousness  passes 
more  and  more  into  my  conscience  and 
makes  it  holy ;  more  and  more  into  my  af- 
fections and  makes  them  lovely ;  more  and 
more  into  my  will  to  make  it  rich  and  duti- 
ful in  obedience.  Forever  and  ever  His 
righteousness  will  cover  me,  and  forever 
and  forever  I  shall  be  growing  into  His 
likeness.  His  righteousness  is  my  defence: 
Yes,  it  is  a  coat  of  mail,  a  protection  for 
breast  and  back.  His  righteousness  pro- 
tects me  from  the  things  that  are  behind, 
the  guilt  and  the  sins  of  my  yesterdays. 
His  righteousness  protects  me  from  the 
things  of  to-morrow,  from  all  the  assaults 
of  the  unknown  way,  from  the  fear  of 
death,  and  from  the  day  of  judgment. 

"When  I  soar  through  worlds  unknown, 
See  Thee  on  Thy  Judgment  Throne, 
Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee.,, 


IV 
READY! 


HEAVENLY  FATHER,  we  thank  Thee  we  are  called  to 
be  children  of  the  light.  Even  though  we  have  been  children  of  the 
darkness,  and  have  loved  the  ways  of  error  rather  than  of  truth, 
and  of  sin  rather  than  of  holiness.  Thou  art  calling  us  to  the 
light  of  eternal  day.  We  would  answer  Thy  call  in  penitence, 
and  we  would  return  to  Thee  like  wayward  children  who  are 
coming  home  again.  We  do  not  ask  to  lose  the  sense  of  our 
shame,  but  we  ask  to  taste  the  sweetness  of  Thy  forgiveness. 
We  do  not  ask  to  forget  our  rebelliousness,  but  we  ask  to  be  assured 
that  we  are  reconciled  to  Thee.  We  would  sit  at  Thy  table 
and  receive  the  bread  of  life.  We  would  worship  at  Thy  feet 
and  receive  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  would  stand 
before  Thee  with  our  feet  shod  with  the  shoes  of  readiness,  willing 
to  go  out  on  errands  of  Christian  love  and  service.  If  we  are 
inclined  to  frivolity  may  we  become  inclined  to  be  serious  and 
reverent.  If  we  are  heedless  may  we  become  fired  with  heavenly 
ambition  and  spiritual  devotion.  Redeem  us  from  the  little- 
ness of  selfishness  and  lift  us  into  the  blessed  communion  of 
our  fellowmen.  Give  us  a  wide  and  generous  outlook  upon  human 
affairs.  Endow  us  with  the  sympathy  that  rejoices  with  them 
who  are  rejoicing  and  that  weeps  with  them  that  weep.  If 
Thou  art  leading  us  through  the  gloom  of  adversity  may  we  find 
that  even  the  clouds  drop  fatness.  If  Thou  art  leading  us 
through  the  green  pastures  and  by  the  still  waters,  may  we 
recognize  the  presence  of  the  great  Shepherd  and  may  our 
joys  be  sanctified.  Hallow  all  our  experiences,  we  humbly 
pray  Thee,  and  may  we  all  become  branches  in  the  vine  of  our 
Lord.    Amen. 


IV 

READY! 

"Your  feet  shod  with  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  gospel  of  peace." 
Ephesians  6 :  15. 

A  LITTLE  while  ago  an  article  ap- 
peared in  one  of  the  daily  papers 
with  this  startling  title:  " Boots 
and  shoes  may  be  vital  determining  fac- 
tors in  the  war."  And  contrasts  and  com- 
parisons were  made  between  the  opposing 
forces  in  respect  to  their  footgear,  and 
the  provision  which  had  been  made  for 
keeping  the  soldiers'  feet  strong  and 
hardy.  And  allowing  even  for  the  ordinary 
journalistic  exaggeration,  it  is  a  most  rea- 
sonable thing  to  assume  that  good,  dura- 
ble, well-fitting  boots  are  part  of  the  requi- 
site armour  for  all  soldiers  who  are  called 
to  prolonged  and  exacting  service.  Think 
of  those  heavy  tramps  in  the  early  days 
of  the  war,  whether  in  advance  or  in  re- 

61 


62      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

treat ;  and  think  of  the  miry  roads  and  the 
marshy  ground  since  the  rains  have  fallen ; 
and  think  of  the  wet  and  soaking  trenches 
where  the  men  have  to  stand  for  hours  to- 
gether; and  you  will  begin  to  realize  what 
a  vital  part  boots  may  play  in  the  terrible 
hardships  of  a  long  and  wintry  campaign. 

In  the  Roman  Empire  scrupulous  care 
was  given  to  the  feet  of  the  fighting  men. 
The  shoes  were  specially  made,  not  only 
for  long  marches,  but  for  protection 
against  the  secret  dangers  of  the  way. 
They  had  not  arrived  at  some  of  our  re- 
finements in  devilry,  but  some  of  their 
subtleties  occasioned  great  destruction. 
Gall-traps  were  set  along  the  road,  multi- 
tudes of  sharp  sticks  were  inserted  on  the 
surface  of  the  road,  keen  as  dagger  points, 
to  obstruct  the  advance  of  an  enemy,  and 
to  maim  his  soldiers  and  compel  them  to 
fall  out  by  the  way.  And  so  it  was  an  im- 
perative necessity  that  the  Roman  soldier 
be  well  shod,  his  feet  made  easy  for  the 
most  exacting  march,  and  defended  against 
the  hidden  perils  which  would  maim  him 
in  service  and  spoil  him  for  the  fray. 

Now  the  apostle  Paul  had  seen  the 
Roman   soldier  marching  as   to   war.     I 


READY!  63 

think  lie  must  have  been  particularly  fond 
of  watching  soldiers  because  we  can  so 
often  see  and  hear  them  reflected  in  his 
letters.  We  can  always  learn  a  great  deal 
from  a  man  by  studying  his  metaphors 
and  figures  of  speech,  and  we  can  get  some 
very  suggestive  glimpses  of  his  tastes  and 
interests  by  watching  the  analogies  of  the 
apostle  Paul,  where  the  army  is  often 
tramping  through  his  letters,  and  the 
Eoman  soldier  is  often  presented  to  offer 
counsel  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Lord.  And 
here  in  my  text  we  are  bidden  to  look  to 
the  soldier's  shoes.  He  is  well  shod,  so 
splendidly  shod  that  in  a  moment  he  is 
ready  for  any  call,  along  any  road,  and 
for  any  service. 

And  the  Christian,  too,  has  long 
marches,  and  often  along  difficult  and  try- 
ing roads,  and  there  are  flints  about  and 
sharp  thorns,  and  other  things  that  wound 
and  make  him  stumble.  And  sometimes 
there  is  scarcely  a  road  at  all,  and  we  have 
never  been  that  way  before,  and  it  is  like 
the  work  of  a  pioneer  cutting  his  way 
through  the  jungle.  What  roads  we  have 
to  tramp!  Especially  when  we  are  apos- 
tles  sent  forth  on   the  King's   bidding! 


64      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

And,  says  the  great  apostle,  "You  need 
shoes  for  the  roads  or  you  will  be  unfit 
for  the  long  journeys,  and  you  will  easily 
become  tired  and  sore,  and  you  may  even 
drop  out  of  the  ranks.' '  And  what  kind 
of  shoes  are  we  to  wear  as  soldiers  of 
Christ?  How  can  we  be  defended  in  our 
long  journeyings  and  in  our  crusades  in 
the  service  of  the  King?  The  answer  to 
these  questions  is  given  in  the  words: 
"Have  your  feet  shod  with  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  gospel  of  peace.' }  Now  what 
is  that? 

Let  me  slightly  recast  the  phrase.  One 
of  the  words  has  slightly  altered  its  colour 
and  significance  since  the  days  of  the  Au- 
thorized Version.  I  mean  the  word  "prep- 
aration'. ' '  In  the  earlier  days  if  you  spoke 
of  a  man  of  "preparation"  you  meant  a 
man  who  was  prepared,  a  man  who  was 
equal  to  opportunity,  a  man  who  was 
awaiting  the  opening  of  the  door,  having 
everything  ready  for  the  call  of  obligation 
and  service.  So  that  the  word  "prepared- 
ness" would  now  be  more  accurate  than 
the  authorized  word  "preparation." 
"Having  your  feet  shod  with  the  prepar- 
edness of  the  gospel  of  peace."     But  I 


READY!  65 

think  we  shall  do  even  better  if  instead  of 
either  of  these  we  use  the  word  "  readi- 
ness.' '  "Having  your  feet  shod  with  the 
readiness  of  the  gospel  of  peace."  What 
is  that?  Look  at  it  a  little  more  closely. 
"The  readiness  of  the  gospel";  that  is 
the  readiness  which  is  born  of  the  gospel 
as  heat  is  born  of  the  sun.  The  gospel  of 
peace  enters  the  soul  of  a  man  and  takes 
possession  of  it,  and  then  inspires  the  man 
with  readiness.  What  for?  Readiness  to 
take  the  road  to  tell  others  the  good  tid- 
ings which  have  filled  his  own  soul.  That 
is  it.  The  gospel  of  peace  enters  and 
glorifies  the  soul,  and  it  then  imparts  to  the 
feet  a  readiness  to  take  the  road,  the  long 
and  difficult  road,  if  need  be,  in  order  to 
tell  to  others  the  good  news  which  has  set 
it  free.  That  is  it.  Have  your  feet  shod 
with  the  readiness  begotten  of  the  gospel 
of  peace! 

Let  me  give  an  example,  and  let  it  be 
taken  from  the  book  of  the  prophet  Isaiah. 
Here,  then,  are  people  in  exile,  sitting  in 
the  cold  shadow  of  oppression,  and  long- 
ing for  freedom  and  home.  And  over  the 
hard  mountain  tracks  there  come  messen- 
gers, swift  messengers  carrying  the  glad 


66      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

tidings  of  emancipation.  There  they  come 
over  the  long  roads !  And  when  the  suffer- 
ing exiles  see  and  hear  them  they  break 
into  this  song:  "How  beautiful  upon  the 
mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bring- 
eth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace; 
that  bringeth  good  tidings  of  God,  that 
publisheth  salvation;  that  saitli  to  Zion, 
Thy  God  reigneth!  Break  forth  into  joy! 
Sing  together !"  The  feet  of  the  messen- 
gers were  shod  with  the  readiness  begot- 
ten of  good  news,  and  they  were  speeding 
with  comfort  to  the  desolate  and  dis- 
tressed. 

We  have  another  example  in  the  same 
book  where  messengers  who  were  ladened 
with  a  rich  experience  were  bidden  to  take 
the  high  road  and  tell  their  news  to  others. 
"0  Zion,  that  bringest  good  tidings,  get 
thee  up  into  the  high  mountain;  0  Jerusa- 
lem, that  bringest  good  tidings,  lift  up  thy 
voice  with  strength;  lift  it  up,  be  not 
afraid;  say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah,  Be- 
hold your  God!  .  .  .  He  shall  feed  His 
flock  like  a  shepherd:  He  shall  gather  the 
lambs  with  His  arm,  and  carry  them  in 
His  bosom;  and  shall  gently  lead  those 
that  are  with  young.' '  That  was  the  good 


READY!  67 

news,  and  with  the  readiness  begotten  of 
the  good  news  the  messengers  hastened  to 
make  it  known.  And  so  it  is  that  our 
feet,  as  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  are  to 
be  shod  with  similar  readiness,  the  readi- 
ness begotten  of  our  own  experience  of  the 
goodness  of  God,  the  readiness  to  go  out 
on  the  rough  and  troubled  roads  of  life, 
into  its  highways  and  its  byways,  its  broad 
streets  and  its  narrow  streets,  carrying  the 
good  cheer  of  the  news  of  God's  redeem- 
ing love  and  grace.  To  be  ready  to  go 
wherever  there  is  any  form  of  bondage, 
singing  the  gospel  song  of  joy  and  free- 
dom,— that  is  the  privileged  service  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  Lord.  "How  beautiful 
upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him 
that  bringeth  good  tidings  !"  "Have  your 
feet  shod  with  the  readiness  of  the  gospel 
of  peace.' ' 

Now  I  think  it  might  be  good  for  us 
to  just  glance  along  the  roads  of  life  and 
look  at  one  or  two  sorts  of  people  who 
are  held  in  spiritual  bondage,  and  who 
are  therefore  in  need  of  good  news  and 
cheer,  and  we  will  challenge  ourselves  if 
our  feet  are  shod  with  readiness  to  take 
them  the  gospel  of  peace,    Well,  then,  look 


08      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

down  this  road,  for  here  is  a  soul  who  is 
held  in  the  bondage  of  despondency  and 
despair.  You  will  find  such  souls  upon 
almost  any  road  you  like  to  tread.  They 
are  souls  who  somehow  have  fainted ;  they 
have  lost  the  warm,  cheering,  kindling  light 
of  hope.  Now  failure  is  never  really 
deadly  until  it  puts  out  our  hope  and 
freezes  the  springs  of  resolution.  The  only 
really  fatal  element  in  defeat  is  the  reso- 
lution not  to  try  again.  We  have  only 
terribly  failed  when  we  have  furled  our 
sails.  Yes,  I  repeat  it;  failure  only  be- 
comes virulent  when  it  breeds  despair. 

Now  these  folk  are  on  the  road.  They 
have  so  utterly  failed  that  they  have  lost 
their  vital  confidence,  and  they  have  be- 
come pathetic  victims  of  self-disparage- 
ment. What  do  they  need?  They  need 
to  have  their  lamps  re-lit  with  the  cheer- 
ing light  of  hope.  They  need  to  have  their 
fires  rekindled  with  the  blessed  warmth  of 
confidence.  They  need  to  hear  of  new 
dawnings,  of  radiant  to-morrows,  of 
larger,  brighter  coming  days.  And  if  they 
do  need  light  and  fire  and  sunrise,  what 
is  that  but  to  say  that  they  need  to  hear 
again  the  good  tidings  of  the  inexhaust- 


READY!  60 

ible  love  of  the  risen  Lord;  They  just 
need  Jesus,  and  the  comforting  gospel  of 
His  peace. 

i  Yes,  but  who  is  to  take  it?  Messengers 
are  wanted,  messengers  shod  with  "the 
readiness  of  the  gospel  of  peace/ '  messen- 
gers swift  and  ready  to  run  these  glorious 
errands  as  the  ministers  of  eternal  hope. 
Now,  are  we  shod  with  that  gospel  readi- 
ness? Are  our  feet  ready  for  the  road? 
It  is  a  noble  and  a  gracious  ministry. 
How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the 
feet  of  him  that  bringeth  oil  to  smoulder- 
ing lamps,  and  fuel  to  dying  fires,  and  that 
cheer  and  illumine  the  cold  haunts  of  de- 
spondency and  despair !  It  is  Mark  Buth- 
erford  who  says  somewhere  in  what  is 
to  me  an  unforgettable  word:  "Blessed 
are  they  who  heal  us  of  our  self-despis- 
ings."  Yes,  verily  it  is  a  beautiful  min- 
istry to  kindle  again  the  lovely  light  of 
confidence  and  hope.  Are  we  ready  for 
such  service?  Soldiers  of  Jesus,  are  our 
feet ' '  shod  with  the  readiness  of  the  gospel 
of  peace"? 

Look  again  along  the  road.  Here  is 
another  lonely  soul,  held  in  the  bondage 
of  a  blinding  experience.    Let  us  say  it  is 


70      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

Saul  of  Tarsus,  who  is  now  on  the  road  to 
Damascus:  "And  as  he  journeyed,  he 
came  near  Damascus :  and  suddenly  there 
shined  round  about  him  a  light  from 
heaven :  and  he  fell  to  the  earth,  and  heard 
a  voice  saying  unto  him:  Saul,  Saul,  why 
persecuteth  thou  me?  .  .  .  And  Saul 
arose  from  the  earth,  and  when  his  eyes 
were  opened  he  saw  no  man:  but  they 
led  him  by  the  hand  and  brought  him  into 
Damascus."  Now  here  is  a  man  who  is 
held  in  the  bondage  of  a  blinding  experi- 
ence. He  has  been  smitten  in  the  midnight, 
but  has  not  yet  seen  the  dawn.  He  is  con- 
victed of  sin,  but  has  not  yet  found  peace. 
He  has  lost  his  old  life  but  has  not  yet 
found  the  new  one:  His  old  delights  have 
gone,  but  the  new  joys  have  not  yet  ar- 
rived. He  has  been  stunned,  but  he  is 
not  yet  free !  And  there  he  is !  What  is 
needed?  0  surely,  what  is  needed  is  some 
human  messenger  in  whom  the  gospel  of 
peace  dwells  like  summer  sunshine  and 
fragrance,  and  whose  feet  are  shod  with 
readiness  to  carry  that  gracious  summer 
to  others.  "And  the  Lord  said  unto  Ana- 
nias, Arise  and  go  into  the  street  which 
is  called  Straight,  and  inquire  in  the  house 


READY!  71 

of  Judas  for  one  called  Saul.  .  .  .  And 
Ananias  went  his  way,  and  entered  into 
the  house;  and  putting  his  hands  on  him, 
said,  Brother  Saul,  the  Lord,  even  Jesus, 
that  appeared  unto  thee  on  the  way  as  thou 
earnest,  hath  sent  me,  that  thou  mightest 
receive  thy  sight,  and  be  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost.  And  immediately  there  fell 
from  his  eyes  as  it  had  been  scales."  And 
so  the  blinded  found  his  sight,  and  the  en- 
slaved found  his  liberty,  and  the  bewil- 
dered found  his  peace;  and  one  of  the 
Lord's  messengers  was  the  human  minister 
in  the  great  emancipation.  His  feet  were 
shod  with  the  readiness  of  the  gospel  of 
peace.  "How  beautiful  upon  the  moun- 
tains are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good 
tidings.' ' 

There  are  other  blinded  people  along  the 
road,  people  who  are  stunned  and  be- 
wildered, not  by  dazzling  light  but  by 
fierce  lightning.  There  are  people  who  are 
just  blinded  by  calamity.  They  have  suf- 
fered the  lightning  stroke  of  disaster  or 
bereavement.  I  was  talking  to  one  such 
troubled  soul  this  very  week ;  and  speaking 
of  the  repeated  blows  of  her  heavy  sorrows 
she  said:    "They  just  left  me  blind  and 


72      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

dumb!"  Blind  and  dumb  along  the  road! 
What  did  she  need?  0,  she  just  needed 
the  restoring  balm  and  cordials  of  heavenly- 
comfort.  She  needed  the  soft  consolations 
of  divine  grace.  And  what  is  that  but  to 
say  again  that  she  needed  the  gospel  of 
peace?  And  where  are  the  messengers, 
with  feet  shod  with  the  readiness  of  the 
gospel  of  peace,  to  carry  the  good  tidings 
to  this  soul  held  in  the  bondage  of  silence 
and  night?  How  unspeakable  is  the  privi- 
lege of  carrying  this  holy  grace,  and  see- 
ing the  holy  light  of  faith  breaking  upon 
the  face  of  bewilderment,  lovelier  far  than 
the  glory  of  sunrise  breaking  upon  the 
mountains,  flushing  the  cold  snows,  and 
suffusing  with  living  color  the  gloominess 
of  the  pines !  Yes,  it  is  a  beautiful  service 
to  carry  good  tidings  to  those  who  are 
stunned.  "How  beautiful  upon  the  moun- 
tain are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good 
tidings !"  Soldiers  of  Jesus,  are  our  feet 
shod  with  this  readiness  of  the  gospel  of 
peace? 

Look  once  more  down  the  road,  for  there 
is  another  soul  held  in  the  bondage  of  igno- 
rance. Let  it  be  a  man  of  Ethiopia.  Let 
the  road  be  the  steep  descent  which  lead- 


READY!  73 

eth  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza.  "A 
man  of  Ethiopia,  an  eunuch  of  great  au- 
thority under  Candace,  Queen  of  the  Ethio- 
pians, who  had  the  charge  of  all  her  treas- 
ure, and  did  go  to  Jerusalem  for  to 
worship,  was  returning,  and  sitting  in  his 
chariot,  read  Esaias,  the  prophet.' '  This 
man  has  the  Word,  but  he  has  not  got  the 
clue.  He  has  the  Scriptures,  but  he  has 
no  interpreter.  What  is  needed?  He  needs 
some  messenger  in  whom  the  Word  has 
become  life,  and  who  has  discovered  the 
central  secret  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  com- 
panionship of  the  Lord.  "The  angel  of 
the  Lord  spake  unto  Philip,  saying,  Arise, 
and  go  toward  the  south,  unto  the  way 
that  goeth  down  from  Jerusalem  unto 
Gaza.  And  he  arose  and  went.,,  "How 
beautiful  upon  the  mountain  are  the  feet 
of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings !"  "And 
Philip  ran  thither  to  him,  and  heard  him 
read  the  prophet  Esaias."  He  ran  on  his 
errand  because  his  feet  were  shod  with 
readiness ! 

"Take  my  feet  and  let  them  be 
Swift  and  beautiful  for  Thee." 


74      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

"And  Philip  said,  Understandest  thou 
what  thou  readest?"  So  he  explained  to 
him  the  Word,  and  through  the  Word  led 
him  unto  the  Lord.  And  this  is  the  last 
word  we  read  about  this  man  going  down 
to  Egypt:  "He  went  on  his  way  rejoic- 
ing!" What  a  ministry  for  a  servant  of 
the  Lord !  And  that  is  your  gracious  ser- 
vice, fellow-preacher,  in  the  ministry  of 
the  Word.  And  that  is  your  privilege,  Sun- 
day-school teacher,  when  you  meet  your 
children  in  the  class.  You  are  appointed 
by  the  Lord  to  light  up  words  that  will 
burn  in  your  scholars'  minds  to  the  very 
end  of  the  pilgrim  way.  And  that  is  the 
privilege  of  all  of  us  if  we  will  just  have 
confidence  in  the  guiding  grace  of  the 
Lord.  We  need  not  be  stars  in  order  to 
light  lamps  and  kindle  fires.  A  taper  is 
quite  enough  if  it  burns  with  genuine 
flame.  Our  greatest  fitness  for  this  kind 
of  service  is  to  be  ready  to  do  it,  and 
the  Lord  Himself  will  provide  the  needful 
equipment.  To  have  feet  shod  with  readi- 
ness, that  is  what  we  need.  Then  through 
our  ministry  it  may  joyfully  happen  that 
many  of 


READY!  75 

"The  sons  of  ignorance  and  night 

Will  dwell  in  the  eternal  light 

Through  the  eternal  love.,, 

There  is  only  one  thing  remaining  to  be 
said.  The  apostle  teaches  that  such  readi- 
ness is  armour  for  our  own  souls,  it  is 
defensive  armour  against  the  world,  the 
flesh  and  the  devil.  To  be  ready  to  tell 
the  good  news  of  grace,  the  gospel  of 
peace,  is  to  have  stout  protection  as  you 
trudge  along  the  road.  Readiness  is  one 
piece  of  armour  in  the  panoply  of  God. 
The  soul  which  is  not  ready  to  serve  is 
an  easy  prey  to  the  evil  one*.  A  man  whose 
feet  are  swift  to  carry  the  good  tidings 
of  grace  is  the  favoured  child  of  glorious 
promise :  • '  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge 
over  thee,  to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways." 
While  we  are  ministering  to  others  we  are 
being  ministered  unto  by  the  spirits  that 
surround  His  throne,  and  our  security  is 
complete. 

Then  let  us  pray  for  the  grace  and  pro- 
tection of  readiness.  Let  us  pray  that  the 
gospel  of  peace  may  more  and  more  deeply 
possess  our  souls,  so  that  we  may  be  in- 
spired with   that   spontaneous   readiness 


76      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

which  awaits  the  King's  bidding,  and  which 
speeds  on  its  way  carrying  the  glorious 
treasures  of  grace.  "Have  your  feet  shod 
with  the  readiness  of  the  gospel  of 
peace."  "How  beautiful  upon  the  moun- 
tains are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth 
good  tidings  I" 


THE  SHIELD  OF 
FAITH 


MOST  HOLY  GOD,  Who  Ughtenest  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world,  enlighten  our  hearts,  we  pray  Thee,  with  the 
light  of  Thy  grace,  that  we  may  fully  know  our  sins  and  our 
shortcomings,  and  may  confess  them  with  true  sorrow  and 
contrition  of  heart.  Unveil  Thy  love  to  us,  so  that  in  its  clear 
shining  we  may  behold  the  sin  of  our  rebellion,  and  may  turn 
unto  Thee  in  hwmility  and  fervent  devotion.  Deliver  us,  we 
pray  Thee,  from  the  tyranny  of  evil  habit.  Save  us  from 
acknowledging  any  sovereignty  above  Thine.  Keep  us  in  sight 
of  the  great  white  throne,  and  may  Thy  judg?nents  determine 
all  our  ways.  Defend  us  when  we  are  tempted  to  fields  of 
transgression.  Protect  us  from  the  allurements  which  assail 
the  senses,  and  which  entice  us,  through  our  fleshly  desires, 
into  impure  delights.  Loose  us  from  the  bonds  of  vanity  and 
pride,  and  remove  every  perverting  prejudice  which  blinds  our 
vision.  Impart  unto  us  the  grace  of  simplicity.  May  our 
worship  be  perfectly  candid  and  sincere.  Give  us  a  healthy 
recoil  from  all  hypocrisy,  from  all  mere  acting  in  Thy  holy 
Presence.  Quicken  our  perception  that  we  may  realize  Thy 
Presence,  and  feel  the  awe  of  the  unseen.  Lead  us,  we  pray 
Thee,  to  the  fountain  of  life.  Quicken  our  souls  so  that  we 
may  apprehend  the  things  that  concern  our  peace.     Amen. 


V 
THE  SHIELD  OF  FAITH 

"Above  all,  taking  the  shield  of 
faith,  wherewith  ye  shall  be  able 
to  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the 
wicked."    Ephesians  6 :  16. 

UT  did  the  apostle  who  gives  the 
counsel  find  his  faith  an  all-suffi- 
cient shield?  He  recommends  the 
shield  of  faith,  but  is  the  recommendation 
based  on  personal  experience?  And  if  so, 
what  is  the  nature  and  value  of  that  expe- 
rience? What  sort  of  protection  did  his 
faith  give  to  him?  When  I  examine  his 
life  what  tokens  do  I  find  of  guardianship 
and  strong  defence?  When  I  move  through 
the  ways  of  his  experience  is  it  like  pass- 
ing through  quiet  and  shady  cloisters  shut 
away  from  the  noise  and  heat  of  the  fierce 
and  feverish  world?  Is  his  protected  life 
like  a  garden  walled  around,  full  of  sweet 
and  pleasant  things,  and  secured  against 
the  maraudings  of  robber  and  beast?    Let 

79 


80     THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

ns  look  at  this  protected  life.  Let  us  glance 
at  the  outer  circumstances.  Here  is  one 
glimpse  of  his  experience:  "Of  the  Jews 
five  times  received  I  forty  stripes  save 
one;  once  was  I  stoned;  thrice  have  I  suf- 
fered shipwreck;  a  day  and  a  night  have 
I  been  in  the  deep ;  in  stripes  above  meas- 
ure; in  prisons  more  frequent;  in  deaths 
oft ;  in  weariness  and  painf ulness,  in  watch- 
ings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fast- 
ings often,  in  cold  and  nakedness."  And 
yet  this  is  the  man  who  speaks  about  the 
shield  of  faith,  and  in  spite  of  the  protect- 
ing shield  all  these  things  happened  unto 
him! 

Look  at  his  bodily  infirmities.  "There 
was  given  unto  me  a  thorn  in  the  flesh*.' ' 
Where  was  the  shield!  It  is  not  necessary 
for  us  to  know  the  character  of  his  thorn. 
But  assuredly  it  was  some  ailment  which 
appeared  to  interfere  with  the  complete- 
ness of  his  work.  Some  think  it  was  an 
affliction  of  the  eyes;  others  think  that  it 
was  a  proneness  to  some  form  of  malarial 
fever  which  frequently  brought  him  into 
a  state  of  collapse  and  exhaustion.  But 
there  it  was,  and  the  shield  of  faith  did  not 
keep  it  away. 


THE  SHIELD  OF  FAITH  81 

Or  look  again  at  his  exhausting  labours. 
There  is  no  word  concerning  his  ministry 
more  pregnant  with  meaning  than  this 
word  " labour,' '  which  the  apostle  so  fre- 
quently used  to  describe  his  work.  "In 
labours  oft;"  "whereunto  I  labour ;"  "I 
laboured  more  abundantly  than  they  all." 
This  is  not  the  labour  of  ordinary  toil. 
It  is  the  labour  of  travail.  It  is  labour  to 
the  degree  of  poignant  pang.  It  is  labour 
that  so  expends  the  strength  as  to  empty 
the  fountain.  It  is  the  labour  of  sacri- 
fice. And  I  thought  that  perhaps  a  pro- 
tected life  might  have  been  spared  the  suf- 
ferings of  a  living  martyrdom  and  that  the 
service  such  a  man  rendered  might  have 
been  made  fruitful  without  pain.  I  thought 
God  might  have  protected  His  servant: 
But  the  shield  of  faith  did  not  deliver  him 
from  the  labour  of  travail  through  which 
he  sought  the  birth  of  the  children  of 
grace. 

Or  look  once  more  at  his  repeated  fail- 
ures. You  can  hear  the  wail  of  sadness 
as  he  frequently  contemplates  his  ruined 
hopes  concerning  little  churches  which  he 
had  built,  or  concerning  fellow-believers 
whom  he  had  won  to  Christ.    "Are  ye  so 


82      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

soon  fallen  away!"  "Ye  would  have 
given  your  eyes  to  me  but  now — ."  "I 
hear  that  there  is  strife  among  you."  "It 
is  reported  that  there  is  uncleanness  among 
you."  "Demus  hath  forsaken  me."  And 
it  is  wail  after  wail,  for  it  is  failure  after 
failure.  Defeat  is  piled  upon  defeat.  It 
is  declared  to  be  a  protected  life,  and  yet 
disasters  litter  the  entire  way.  It  is  per- 
fectly clear  that  the  shield  of  faith  did  not 
guard  him  from  the  agony  of  defeat. 

Such  are  the  experiences  of  the  man  who 
gave  his  strength  to  proclaim  the  all-suf- 
ficiency of  the  shield  of  faith,  who  spent 
his  days  in  recommending  it  to  his  fellow- 
men,  and  whose  own  life  was  neverthe- 
less noisy  with  tumult,  and  burdened  with 
antagonisms,  and  crippled  by  infirmity, 
and  clouded  with  defeat.  Can  this  life  be 
said  to  be  wearing  a  shield?  We  have  so 
far  been  looking  at  the  man's  environment, 
at  his  bodily  infirmities,  at  his  activities 
of  labor,  at  his  external  defeats:  What  if 
in  all  these  things  we  have  not  come  within 
sight  of  the  realm  which  the  apostle  would 
describe  as  his  life  ?  When  Paul  speaks  of 
life  he  means  the  life  of  the  soul.  When 
he  thinks  of  life  his  eyes  are  on  the  soul. 


THE  SHIELD  OF  FAITH;  83 

In  all  the  estimates  and  values  which  he 
makes  of  life  he  is  fixedly  regarding  the 
soul.  The  question  of  success  or  failure 
in  life  is  judged  by  him  in  the  courthouse 
of  the  soul.  You  cannot  entice  the  apostle 
away  to  life's  accidents  and  induce  him 
to  take  his  measurements  there.  He  always 
measures  life  with  the  measurement  of  an 
angel,  and  thus  he  busies  himself  not  with 
the  amplitude  of  possessions,  but  with  the 
quality  of  being,  not  with  the  outer  estates 
of  circumstances  but  with  the  central  keep 
and  citadel  of  the  soul.  We  never  find  the 
apostle  Paul  with  his  eyes  glued  upon  the 
wealth  or  poverty  of  his  surroundings. 
But  everywhere  and  always  and  with  end- 
less fascination,  he  watches  the  growth  or 
decay  of  the  soul.  When,  therefore,  this 
man  speaks  of  the  shield  of  faith  we  may 
be  quite  sure  that  he  is  still  dwelling  near 
the  soul  and  that  he  is  speaking  of  a  pro- 
tection which  will  defend  the  innermost 
life  from  foul  and  destructive  invasion. 

Now  our  emphasis  is  prone  to  be  en- 
tirely the  other  way,  and  therefore  we  are 
very  apt  to  misinterpret  the  teachings  of 
the  apostle  Paul  and  to  misunderstand  the 
holy  promises  of  the  Lord.    We  are  prone 


84      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

to  live  in  the  incidents  of  life  rather  than 
in  its  essentials,  in  environment  rather 
than  in  character,  in  possessions  rather 
than  in  dispositions,  in  the  body  rather 
than  in  the  soul.  The  consequence  is  that 
we  seek  our  shields  in  the  realms  in  which 
we  live.  We  live  only  in  the  things  of 
the  body  and  therefore  against  bodily  ills 
we  seek  our  shields.  We  want  a  shield 
against  sorrow,  to  keep  it  away,  a  shield 
to  protect  us  against  the  break-up  of  our 
happy  estate.  We  want  a  shield  against 
adversity,  to  keep  it  away,  a  shield  against 
the  darkening  eclipse  of  the  sunny  day. 
We  want  a  shield  against  loss,  to  keep  it 
away,  a  shield  against  the  rupture  of 
pleasant  relations,  a  shield  to  protect  us 
against  the  bereavements  which  destroy 
the  completeness  of  our  fellowships.  We 
want  a  shield  against  pain,  to  keep  it  away, 
a  shield  against  the  pricks  and  goads  of 
piercing  circumstances,  against  the  stings 
and  arrows  of  outrageous  fortune. 

In  a  word,  we  want  a  shield  to  make  us 
comfortable,  and  because  the  shield  of  faith 
does  not  do  it  we  are  often  stunned  and 
confused,  and  our  thin  reasonings  are  of- 
ten twisted  and  broken,  and  the  world  ap- 


THE  SHIELD  OF  FAITH  85 

pears  a  labyrinth  without  a  providence 
and  without  a  plan.  It  is  just  here  that  our 
false  emphasis  leads  us  astray.  "We  live  in 
circumstances  and  seek  a  shield  to  make  us 
comfortable;  but  the  apostle  Paul  lived  in 
character  and  sought  a  shield  to  make  him 
holy.  He  was  not  concerned  with  the  ar- 
rangement of  circumstances,  but  he  was 
concernedf  with  the  aspiration  that,  be  the 
circumstances  what  they  might,  they  should 
never  bring  disaster  to  his  soul.  He  did 
not  seek  a  shield  to  keep  off  ill-circum- 
stances, but  he  sought  a  shield  to  keep  ill- 
circumstances  from  doing  him  harm:  He 
sought  a  shield  to  defend  him  from  the  de- 
structiveness  of  every  kind  of  circum- 
stance, whether  fair  or  foul,  whether  laden 
with  sunshine  or  heavy  with  gloom.  Paul 
wanted  a  shield  against  all  circumstances 
in  order  that  no  circumstance  might  unman 
him  and  impoverish  the  wealth  of  his  soul. 
Let  me  offer  a  simple  illustration.  A  ray 
of  white  light  is  made  up  of  many  colors, 
but  we  can  devise  screens  to  keep  back 
any  one  of  these  colors  and  to  let  through 
those  we  please.  We  can  filter  the  rays. 
Or  we  can  devise  a  screen  to  let  in  rays 
of  light  and  to  keep  out  rays  of  heat.    We 


86      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

can  intercept  certain  rays  and  forbid  their 
presence.  Now,  to  the  apostle  Paul  the 
shield  of  faith  was  a  screen  to  intercept 
the  deadly  rays  which  dwell  in  every  kind 
of  circnmstance ;  and  to  Panl  the  deadly 
rays  in  circumstances,  whether  the  cir- 
cumstances were  bright  or  cloudy,  were 
just  those  that  consumed  his  spiritual  sus- 
ceptibilities and  lessened  his  communion 
with  God,  the  things  that  ate  out  his  moral 
fibre,  and  that  destroyed  the  wholeness  and 
wholesomeness  of  his  human  sympathies, 
and  impaired  his  intimacy  with  God  and 
man.  It  was  against  these  deadly  rays  he 
needed  a  shield,  and  he  found  it  in  the 
shield  of  faith. 

Paul  wanted  a  shield,  not  against  fail- 
ure; that  might  come  or  stay  away.  But 
he  wanted  a  shield  against  the  pessimism 
that  may  be  born  of  failure,  and  which 
holds  the  soul  in  the  fierce  bondage  of  an 
Arctic  winter.  Paul  wanted  a  shield,  not 
against  injury;  that  might  come  or  stay 
away;  but  against  the  deadly  thing  that 
is  born  of  injury,  even  the  foul  offspring 
of  revenge.  Paul  wanted  a  shield,  not 
against  pain;  that  might  come  or  might 
not  come;  he  sought  a  shield  against  the 


THE  SHIELD  OF  FAITH  87 

spirit  of  murmuring  which  is  so  frequently 
born  of  pain,  the  deadly,  deadening  mood 
of  complaint.  Paul  wanted  a  shield,  not 
against  disappointment,  that  might  come 
or  might  not  come ;  but  against  the  bitter- 
ness that  is  born  of  disappointment,  the 
mood  of  cynicism  which  sours  the  milk  of 
human  kindness  and  perverts  all  the  gentle 
currents  of  the  soul.  Paul  wanted  a  shield, 
not  against  difficulty;  that  might  come  or 
might  not  come ;  but  against  the  fear  that 
is  born  of  difficulty,  the  cowardice  and  the 
disloyalty  which  are  so  often  bred  of  stu- 
pendous tasks.  Paul  did  not  want  a  shield 
against  success ;  that  might  come  or  might 
not  come;  but  against  the  pride  that  is 
born  of  success,  the  deadly  vanity  and 
self-conceit  which  scorch  the  fair  and 
gracious  things  of  the  soul  as  a  prairie- 
fire  snaps  up  a  homestead  or  a  farm.  Paul 
did  not  want  a  shield  against  wealth ;  that 
might  come  or  might  not  come;  but 
against  the  materialism  that  is  born  of 
wealth,  the  deadly  petrifying  influence 
which  turns  flesh  into  stone,  spirituality 
into  benumbment,  and  which  makes  a  soul 
unconscious  of  God  and  of  eternity.  The 
apostle  did  not  want  a  shield  against  any 


88      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

particular  circumstance,  but  against  every 
kind  of  circumstance,  that  in  everything 
he  might  be  defended  against  the  fiery 
darts  of  the  devil. 

He  found  the  shield  he  needed  in  a  vital 
faith  in  Christ.  First  of  all  the  faith- 
life  cultivates  the  personal  fellowship  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  ultimate  con- 
cern of  faith  is  not  with  a  polity,  not  with 
a  creed,  not  with  a  church,  and  not  with 
a  sacrament,  but  with  the  person  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  therefore  the 
first  thing  we  have  to  do  if  we  wish  to 
wear  the  shield  of  faith  is  to  cultivate  the 
companionship  of  the  Lord.  We  must 
seek  His  holy  presence:  We  must  let  His 
purpose  enter  into  and  possess  our  minds. 
We  must  let  His  promises  distil  into  our 
hearts.  And  we  must  let  our  own  hearts 
and  minds  dwell  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  in 
holy  thought  and  aspiration,  just  as  our 
hearts  and  minds  dwell  upon  the  loved  ones 
who  have  gone  from  our  side.  We  must 
talk  to  Him  in  secret  and  we  must  let  Him 
talk  to  us.  We  must  consult  Him  about 
our  affairs,  and  then  take  His  counsels  as 
our  statutes,  and  pay  such  heed  to  them 
that  the  statutes  will  become  our  songs. 


THE  SHIELD  OF  FAITH  89 

Faith-life  cultivates  the  friendship  of 
Christ,  and  leans  upon  it,  and  surrenders 
itself  with  glorious  abandon  to  the  sov- 
ereign decrees  of  His  grace  and  love. 

And  then,  secondly,  the  faith-life  puts 
first  things  first,  and  in  its  list  of  primary- 
values  it  gives  first  place  to  the  treasures 
of  the  soul.  Faith-life  is  more  concerned 
with  habits  than  with  things,  with  char- 
acter than  with  office,  with  self-respect 
than  with  popular  esteem.  The  faith-life 
puts  first  things  first,  the  clean  mind  and 
the  pure  heart,  and  from  these  it  never 
turns  its  eyes  away. 

.--  And,  lastly,  the  faith-life  contemplates 
the  campaign  rather  than  the  single  battle. 
One  battle  may  seem  to  go  against  £t. 
But  faith  knows  that  one  battle  is  not  the 
end  of  the  world.  "I  will  see  you  again, 
and  your  sorrow  shall  be  turned  into  joy*." 
Faith  takes  the  long  view,  the  view  of  the 
entire  campaign.  ' '  I  saw  the  holy  city,  the 
new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  out  of  heaven 
from  God. "  "  The  kingdoms  of  this  world 
shall  become  the  kingdom  of  our  God." 
Such  a  relationship  to  the  Lord  protects 
our  life  as  with  an  invincible  shield.  It 
may    please    God    to    conduct    our    life 


90      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

through  long  reaches  of  cloudless  noon ;  the 
shield  of  faith  will  be  our  defence.  It  may 
please  God  to  lead  us  through  the  gloom 
of  a  long  and  terrible  night;  the  shield  of 
faith  will  be  our  defence.  "Thou  shalt 
not  be  afraid  of  the  pestilence  that  walketh 
in  darkness  nor  for  the  destruction  that 
wasteth  at  noonday." 


VI 

THE  HELMET  OF 
HOPE 


ETERNAL  GOD,  mercifully  help  us  to  unitedly  draw  near  to 
the  atoning  Saviour,  and  through  His  mercies  find  access  into 
the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light.  Forgive  the  sins  of  our 
rebellion  and  redeem  us  from  our  guilt.  Transform  our  spirit- 
ual habits  that  we  may  find  ourselves  able  to  fix  our  minds 
tipon  things  above.  Cleanse  our  hearts  by  the  waters  of  re- 
generation, in  order  that  our  inclinations  may  be  fixed  upon 
the  things  that  please  Thee.  Rekindle  the  fire  of  our  affec- 
tions, purify  the  light  of  our  conscience.  Broaden  our  compas- 
sions and  make  them  more  delicate  in  their  discernments.  Im- 
part unto  us  the  saving  sense  of  Thy  Companionship,  and 
in  the  assurance  of  Thy  Presence  may  we  know  ourselves  com- 
petent to  do.  Thy  will.  Meet  with  us  one  by  one.  Equip  us 
with-  alii-  needful  armour  for  our  daily  battle.  Feed  us  with 
hidden  manna,  that  so  our  strength  may  be  equal  to  our  task. 
Unite  us  in  the  bonds  of  holy  fear,  and  may  we  all  be  partakers 
of  Thy  love  and  grace.    Amen. 


VI 

THE  HELMET  OF  HOPE 

"And  take  the  helmet  of  salva- 
tion."   Ephesians  6 :  17. 

"And  for  an  helmet  the  hope  of 
salvation."    I  Thessalonians  5 :  8. 

THE  helmet  of  hope!  Who  has  not 
experienced  the  energy  of  a  mighty 
hope?  It  is  always  a  force  to  be 
reckoned  with  in  the  day  of  life's  battle. 
Hope  is  a  splendid  helmet,  firmly  covering 
the  head,  and  defending  all  its  thoughts 
and  purposes  and  visions  from  the  subtle 
assaults  of  the  evil  one.  The  helmet  of 
hope  is  one  of  the  best  protections  against 
'f losing  one's  head" ;  it  is  the  best  security 
against  all  attacks  made  upon  the  mind 
by  small  but  deadly  fears;  it  is  the  only 
effective  safeguard  against  petty  but 
deadly  compromise.  Far  away  the  best 
defence  against  all  sorts  of  mental  va- 
grancy and  distraction  is  to  have  the  execu- 

93 


94      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

tive  chambers  of  the  life  encircled  and  pos- 
sessed by  a  strong  and  brilliant  hope. 

Now  every  student  of  the  apostle  Paul 
knows  that  he  is  an  optimist.  But  he  is 
an  optimist,  not  because  he  closes  his  eyes, 
but  because  he  opens  them  and  uses  them 
to  survey  the  entire  field  of  vision  and  pos- 
sibility*. He  is  an  optimist,  not  because 
he  cannot  see  the  gross  darkness, — no  one 
has  painted  the  darkness  in  blacker  hues, — 
but  because  he  can  also  see  the  light;  and 
no  one  has  portrayed  the  light  with  more 
alluring  brilliance  and  glory.  He  is  an 
optimist,  not  because  he  cannot  see  the 
loathsome  presence  of  weakness,  but  be- 
cause he  sees  the  unutterable  grace  and 
love  of  God. 

Yes,  he  is  a  reasonable  optimist,  and  I 
dare  to  say  that  you  cannot  find  anywhere 
in  human  literature  a  hundred  pages  more 
glowing  and  radiant  with  the  spirit  of 
hope  than  in  the  letters  of  the  apostle 
Paul.  Nowhere  can  you  travel  with  him, 
not  even  to  the  darkest  and  most  tragic 
realms  of  human  need,  without  catching 
the  bright  shining  of  a  splendid  hope.  You 
know  how  it  is  when  you  walk  along  the 
shore  with  the  full  moon  riding  over  the 


THE  HELMET  OF  HOPE  95 

sea.  Between  you  and  the  moon,  and  right 
across  the  troubled  waters,  there  is  a 
broad  pathway  of  silver  light.  If  you  move 
up  the  shore  the  shining  path  moves  with 
you.  If  you  move  down  the  shore  still 
you  have  the  silver  path  across  the  waves. 
Wherever  you  stand  there  is  always  be- 
tween you  and  the  moon  a  shining  vista 
stretching  athwart  the  restless  sea.  And 
wherever  the  great  apostle  journeyed,  and 
through  whatever  cold  or  desolate  circum- 
stances, there  was  always  between  him  and 
the  risen  Lord,  the  Lord  of  grace  and  love, 
a  bright  and  broadening  way  of  eternal 
hope.  No  matter  where  he  is,  and  how 
appalling  the  need,  no  matter  what  corrup- 
tion may  gather  about  the  shore  on  which 
he  is  walking,  always  there  is  the  silver 
path  of  gospel-hope  stretching  from  the 
human  shore-line  to  the  burning  bliss  of 
the  eternal  Presence.  In  Jerusalem,  in 
Antioch,  in  Lystra,  in  Ephesus,  in  Philippi, 
in  Eome,  he  was  never  without  these  holy 
beams.  They  moved  with  him  wherever 
he  went,  for  they  were  the  outshining  rays 
of  the  mercy  of  the  eternal  God:  Yes  in- 
deed, he  was  an  optimist  born  and  sus- 
tained in  grace.     He  saw  a  shining  road 


96      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

of  hope  out  of  every  pit,  stretching  from 
the  miry  clay  to  the  awful  and  yet  glorious 
sanctities  of  holiness  and  peace. 

Now  our  ordinary  experience  teaches  us 
how  much  energy  resides  in  a  commanding 
hope.  A  big  expectation  is  stored  with 
wonderful  dynamic,  and  it  transmits  its 
power  to  every  faculty  in  the  soul.  The 
influence  of  a  great  hope  fills  the  mind  with 
an  alert  and  sensitive  trembling,  inspiring 
every  thought  to  rise  as  it  were  on  tiptoe 
to  await  and  greet  the  expected  guest.  A 
great  hope  pours  its  energy  into  the  will, 
endowing  it  with  the  strength  of  mar- 
vellous patience  and  perseverance.  I  have 
lately  read  of  an  ingenious  contrivance, 
which  is  now  being  used  in  some  parts  of 
Egypt,  in  which,  by  a  subtle  combination 
of  glass  receivers,  the  heat  of  the  sun  is 
collected,  and  the  gathered  energy  concen- 
trated and  used  in  turning  machinery  in 
the  varied  ministries  of  agriculture.  That 
is  to  say,  the  power  of  a  diffused  shining 
is  directed  to  an  engine  and  its  strength 
enlisted  in  practical  service.  And  so  it  is 
with  the  sunny  light  of  a  large  hope.  Its 
gathered  energy  is  poured  into  the  engine 
of   the   will,   imparting   glorious    driving 


THE  HELMET  OF  HOPE  97 

power,  the  power  of  "go"  and  laborious 
persistence. 

Every  sphere  of  hnman  interest  provides 
examples  of  this  principle:  Turn  to  the 
realm  of  invention.  An  inventor  has  a 
great  hope  shining  before  him  as  a  bril- 
liant vision  of  possible  achievement.  With 
what  energy  of  will  it  endows  him,  and 
with  what  tireless,  sleepless,  invincible  pa- 
tience! Think  of  the  immeasureable  en- 
durance of  the  brothers  Wright  who  were 
inspired  by  the  great  hope  of  achieving 
the  conquest  of  the  air!  Their  hope  was 
indeed  a  helmet  defending  them  against 
all  withering  suggestions  of  ease,  protect- 
ing them  against  the  call  of  an  ignoble 
indolence  which  is  so  often  heard  in  hours 
of  defeat.  An  electric  railway  has  just 
been  introduced  by  its  inventor  to  the 
British  Government,  which  is  capable  of 
transmitting  mails  and  parcels  along  a 
prepared  track  at  the  rate  of  three  hun- 
dred miles  per  hour ;  and  the  inventor  has 
recently  quietly  told  us  that  he  has  been 
at  work  upon  it  for  thirty  years!  But 
think  how,  all  through  those  long  and  many 
fruitless  years,  his  helmet  of  hope  de- 
fended him,  and  especially  protected  him 


98      THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

from  those  alluring  suggestions  which 
come  from  the  mild  climate  of  Lotus-Land, 
and  which  tempt  a  man  to  relax  his  ten- 
sion and  lie  down  in  the  pleasant  and 
thymy  banks  of  rest  and  ease. 

Or  seek  your  examples  in  the  realms  of 
discovery.  Bead  the  chapters  in  Lord 
Lister's  life  which  tell  how  he,  braced  and 
inspired  by  a  mighty  hope,  laboured  and 
laboured  in  the  quest  of  an  anaesthetic.  Or 
turn  to  the  equally  fascinating  pages  which 
tell  how  Sir  James  Simpson  toiled,  and 
moiled,  and  dared,  and 'suffered  in  the  long 
researches  which  led  to  the  discovery  of 
chloroform.  His  will  was  rendered  indom- 
itable by  the  splendid  hope  of  assuaging 
human  pain. 

Or  think  again  of  the  restless,  tireless 
labours  of  hundreds  of  men  who  are  to-day 
engaged  in  searching  for  the  microscopic 
cause  of  cancer,  that  having  found  it  they 
might  isolate  it,  and  discover  an  antago- 
nist which  shall  work  its  complete  de- 
struction. There  is  a  glorious  hope  shin- 
ing across  the  cancer  waste,  and  it  is  nerv- 
ing the  will  of  research  with  unconquerable 
perseverance.  Yes,  indeed,  men  wear  a 
splendid  helmet,  even  in  the  ways  of  com- 


THE  HELMET  OF  HOPE  99 

mon  experience,  when  they  wear  the  helmet 
of  hope. 

And  mark  their  condition  when  they 
lose  it.  Turn  to  the  scriptural  record  of 
the  voyage  when  Paul  and  his  fellow-pris- 
oners were  being  escorted  by  soldiers  to 
take  their  trial  in  Eome".  A  tempestuous 
storm  arose,  and,  in  the  power  of  a  mighty 
hope  to  save  the  boat  and  themselves  the 
men  called  out  every  ounce  of  their 
strength.  But  now  note  this  connection 
in  the  narrative  as  I  read  it  to  you:  "All 
hope  was  taken  away."  .  .  .  "We  let  her 
drift. ' '  That  is  it,  and  it  offers  a  striking 
symbol  of  a  common  experience.  While 
our  hope  is  burning  we  steer;  when  our 
hope  is  gone  out  we  drift.  The  motive 
power  is  gone,  and  the  hopeless  man  is 
like  a  drifting  hull  in  the  midst  of  a  wild 
and  desolate  sea. 

Or  turn  to  the  pages  of  Capt.  Scott's 
journal  when  he  and  his  party  are  sur- 
mounting colossal  tasks  in  the  chivalrous 
hope  of  winning  for  their  country  the  hon- 
ourable distinction  of  first  discovery  of  the 
South  Pole.  The  narrative  just  blazes  with 
hope,  and  therefore  it  tingles  with  energy 
and  shouts  with  song!    But  when  Amund- 


100    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

gen's  flag  was  seen  at  the  Pole,  and  their 
strong  hope  was  gone,  and  the  disap- 
pointed company  began  to  return — 0  what 
heavy  feet,  and  what  accumulated  burdens, 
and  what  fiercely  added  laboriousness  to 
an  already  laborious  road!  Hope  had 
gone,  and  they  nobly  trudged,  and  trudged, 
and  trudged,  to  faint,  and  fall,  and  die! 
Aye,  men  and  women,  hope  is  a  tremendous 
power.  To  have  hope  is  to  have  always 
fresh  reserves  to  meet  every  new  expen- 
diture of  the  will.  To  lose  hope  is  like 
losing  the  dynamo,  the  secret  of  inspira- 
tion, and  the  once  indomitable  will  droops 
and  faints  away.  It  just  makes  an  infinite 
difference  whether  or  not  we  are  wearing 
the  helmet  of  hope. 

But  now,  if  all  this  is  true  of  common 
hope  and  common  experience,  how  is  it 
with  the  supreme  hope,  "the  hope  of  sal- 
vation V9  What  is  this  hope, — "the  hope 
of  salvation  V9  To  whom  is  the  apostle 
Paul  giving  this  counsel?  He  is  giving  it 
to  Christian  believers  in  Ephesus:  But 
were  they  not  already  saved?  Why  should 
he  speak  to  them  of  "the  hope  of  salva- 
tion" as  though  it  were  something  still  to 
be  won?    I  remember  when  I  was  a  mere 


THE  HELMET  OF  HOPE  101 

boy  going  to  Spurgeon's  Tabernacle,  and 
as  I  was  retiring  from  the  building  at  the 
close  of  the  service,  a  gentleman  laid  his 
hand  upon  my  shoulder,  and  said:  "My 
boy,  are  you  saved? "  His  question  sug- 
gested that  it  was  something  I  might 
already  have  experienced.  Well,  had  not 
the  Ephesian  disciples  passed  through 
that  same  experience?  A  little  while  ago 
a  London  cabman  stood  at  the  foot  of  the 
pulpit-stairs  in  our  church,  and  told  me 
that  by  the  grace  of  God  he  had  been  won- 
derfully saved.  But  the  apostle  speaks  to 
these  believers  of  "the  hope  of  salvation' ' 
as  though  it  were  something  still  before 
them.  They  had  taken  a  great  step  in  dis- 
cipleship  in  that  vast  and  wicked  city  of 
Ephesus,  crowded  with  all  sorts  of  antago- 
nisms, and  they  had  boldly  confessed  them- 
selves on  the  side  of  Christ.  And  yet,  the 
apostle  counsels  them  to  wear  as  a  helmet 
"the  hope  of  salvation.' ' 

The  truth  is  that  the  apostle  Paul  uses 
all  the  three  primary  tenses  in  speaking 
of  salvation.  He  speaks  to  believers  in  the 
past  tense,  and  he  says :  "We  were  saved.' ' 
And  to  the  same  believers  he  uses  the 
present  tense,  and  he  says:  "Ye  are  being 


102     THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

saved. "  And  yet  again  to  the  same  be- 
lievers he  uses  the  future  tense,  "Ye  shall 
be  saved."  All  of  which  means  that  to 
this  great  apostle  a  gloriously  full  salva- 
tion stretches  across  the  years  from  past 
to  future,  gathering  riches  with  every 
passing  day.  Salvation  to  Paul  was  more 
than  a  step,  it  was  also  a  walk.  It  was 
more  than  a  crisis,  it  was  also  a  prolonged 
process.  It  was  more  than  the  gift  of  new 
life,  it  was  the  maturing  in  growth  and 
power.  A  drowning  man,  when  he  is  lifted 
out  of  the  water,  is  in  a  very  profound 
sense  vitally  saved.  But  after  this  initial 
salvation  there  is  the  further  salvation  of 
re-collecting  his  scattered  consciousness, 
and  of  recovering  his  exhausted  strength. 
And  in  a  very  glorious  sense  a  man  is 
spiritually  saved  in  a  moment;  in  a  mo- 
ment in  Christ  Jesus  he  passed  from  death 
into  life.  But  it  is  also  equally  true  that 
a  man  is  only  saved  in  a  lifetime,  as  he 
appropriates  to  himself  more  and  more 
the  grace  and  truth  of  the  risen  Lord.  Yes, 
after  we  have  been  converted  and  saved, 
there  is  a  further  salvation  in  self-recov- 
ery, in  self-discovery,  all  of  which  becomes 
ours  in  a  fuller  and  richer  discovery  of 


THE  HELMET  OF  HOPE  103 

Christ.  Our  possibilities  of  salvation  in 
Christ  Jesus  stretch  before  us  like  range 
upon  range  of  glorious  mountains.  When 
we  have  attained  one  range  we  have  only- 
obtained  a  new  vantage-ground  for  behold- 
ing another;  when  that,  too,  has  been 
climbed,  still  vaster  and  grander  ranges 
rise  into  view.  Every  fresh  addition  to  our 
Christlikeness  increases  our  power  of  dis- 
cernment, and  every  added  power  of  dis- 
cernment unfolds  a  larger  vision  and  a 
more  glorious  and  alluring  hope.  All  be- 
lievers in  Christ  Jesus  have  been  saved. 
All  believers  in  Christ  Jesus  are  being 
saved.  All  believers  in  Christ  Jesus  will 
be  saved.  And  therefore,  says  the  apostle, 
always  wear  the  helmet  of  hope,  ' '  the  hope 
of  salvation.' ' 

Now  perhaps  we  cannot  better  draw 
this  meditation  to  a  close  in  more  im- 
mediate and  practical  purpose  than  by 
just  gazing  upon  one  or  two  of  the  hopes 
of  the  apostle  Paul,  if  perchance  by  God's 
good  grace  we  may  appropriate  them  to 
our  own  souls*.  For  he,  too,  is  wearing 
the  helmet  of  hope,  the  hope  of  salvation. 
What,  then,  does  he  hope  for?  What 
mighty  hope  is  throwing  the  energies  of 


104    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

its  defences  upon  and  around  his  soul! 
Here  is  one  of  his  hopes;  look  at  it:  "In 
hope  of  the  glory  of  God."  He  wore  that 
hope,  and  he  wore  it  like  a  helmet,  and 
he  wore  it  night  and  day.  He  had  gazed 
upon  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  the  wondrous 
light  of  grace  and  truth  which  shone  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  now  he  dared 
to  hold  the  glorious  hope  of  becoming  glo- 
rified with  the  same  glory.  He  dared  to 
hope  that  his  own  soul  would  become  trans- 
lucent with  the  holy  light  of  divine  truth 
and  purity.  It  almost  makes  one  catch 
the  breath  to  see  such  spiritual  audacity. 
One  has  read  of  young  boys  trembling  with 
artistic  sensibility,  bowing  in  the  presence 
of  the  world's  masterpieces  in  art  or 
music,  and  becoming  possessed  with  the 
amazing  hope  of  one  day  sharing  the  mas- 
ter's light  and  glory.  But  here  is  a  man 
who  has  been  prostrate  in  the  presence  of 
his  God.  He  has  been  humbly  gazing  upon 
"the  chief  among  ten  thousand  and  the 
altogether  lovely.' '  And  now,  in  a  daring 
which  yet  quiets  the  soul  in  reverence  and 
prayerful  lowliness,  he  tells  his  fellow- 
believers  that  he  lives  "in  hope  of  the 
glory  of  God."    What  a  hope!    The  hope 


THE  HELMET  OF  HOPE  105 

of  being  glorified  with  God 's  glory,  of  being 
made  gracious  with  His  grace,  of  being 
made  truthful  with  His  truth,  of  being 
sanctified  with  His  holiness,  of  being  trans- 
formed into  the  same  image,  from  glory 
unto  glory !  I  say,  what  a  hope,  and  there- 
fore, what  a  helmet!  With  a  helmet  like 
that  defending  a  man's  brain,  what  a  de- 
fence he  has  against  all  the  petty  devil- 
ries which  seek  to  enter  among  our 
thoughts  in  the  shape  of  mean  purposes, 
and  petty  moral  triflings,  such  as  so  often 
invade  and  desolate  the  whole  realm  of  the 
mind!  What  a  hope  this  is,  and  what  a 
helmet;  "the  hope  of  the  glory  of  God." 
And  here  is  another  way  the  apostle  has 
of  describing  the  hope  he  wears, l  i  the  hope 
of  salvation; — "To  present  us  spotless  be- 
fore His  throne.' '  Quietly  and  reverently 
repeat  that  phrase,  again,  and  again,  and 
again,  until  something  of  its  grandeur 
begins  to  fill  your  soul  as  the  advancing 
light  of  the  rising  sun  fills  a  vale  in  Swit- 
zerland with  its  soft  and  mellowing  glory. 
"To  present  us  spotless  before  His 
throne. ' '  What  a  hope !  And  yet  this  man 
wore  it  every  day,  in  all  the  ups  and  downs, 
the  victories  and  defeats  of  his  ever-chang- 


106    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

ing  life.  "To  present  113  spotless  before 
His  throne I"  Just  think  of  wearing  that 
hope  in  New  York!  And  by  God's  good 
grace  we  can  wear  it;  yes,  indeed,  we  can, 
and  what  a  helmet  to  wear !  When  a  man 
has  got  that  helmet  on,  and  some  sharp 
temptation  is  hnrled  at  him,  it  will  fall 
away  from  liim  like  a  paper  pellet  thrown 
against  the  armour  plate  of  a  mighty 
dreadnought:  "To  present  us  spotless!" 
Wear  that  helmet  of  hope,  and  the  devil 
shall  batter  thee  in  vain.  For  what  can 
the  devil  do  with  men  and  women  in  whom 
these  hopes  are  blazing?  He  offers  us  his 
glittering  snares,  and  they  are  revealed 
as  common  paste  in  the  presence  of  genuine 
stones.  They  stand  exposed  as  noisy  fire- 
works in  the  presence  of  the  stars. 

Let  us  wear  the  helmet  of  hope,  the 
helmet  of  salvation,  and  we  are  quite  se- 
cure. But  let  us  put  it  on  every  day. 
Every  morning  let  us  put  on  the  helmet, 
and  often  and  again  during  the  day  let  us 
feel  that  it  is  in  its  place.  Let  us  begin 
the  day  by  saying,  "Now,  my  soul,  live 
to-day  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God!  Live 
to-day  in  the  hope  of  being  presented  spot- 
less before  His  throne !    Live  to-day  in  the 


THE  HELMET  OF  HOPE  107 

hope  of  being  "  filled  unto  all  the  fnlness 
of  God. ' '  Let  us  put  that  helmet  on,  and  let 
us  do  it  deliberately,  prayerfully,  and  trust- 
fully, and  in  life 's  evil  day  we  shall  be  able 
to  stand,  and  having  done  all,  to  stand. 


VII 

THE  SWORD  OF  THE 
SPIRIT 


HEAVENLY  FATHER,  Who  hast  given  Thy  Holy  Spirit 

to  comfort  and  to  guide  Thy  servants,  teach  us  to  trust  His  leading. 
Day  by  day  we  would  listen  to  His  consolation  and  direction. 
When  we  open  Thy  Word  of  Life  we  would  rely  upon  His 
illuminating  interpretation.  When  the  story  of  the  character 
and  the  depths  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  are  far  beyond  us,  and 
seem  unapproachable,  when  doubts  and  fears  assail  the  mind, 
let  us  abide  in  quiet  repose  under  the  tuition  of  the  indwelling 
Spirit.  When  desire  for  the  highest  life  fails,  and  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness  are  forgotten  in  other  pursuits,  may 
the  kindly  Spirit  inspire  afresh  the  ardor  of  enthusiasm  which 
He  alone  can  create.  When  we  have  lost  our  bearings  in  the 
maze  of  life  teach  us  to  look  to  the  ever-present  Guide  Who 
brings  back  into  the  clear  path  all  Who  trust  Him;  through 
Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 


VII 

THE  SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT 

"Take  the  sword  of  the  Spin* 
which  is  the  Word  of  God> 
Ephesians  6 :  17. 

ERE  is  the  Christian  soldier  with 
his  sword,  and  his  sword  is  the 
Word  of  God.  And  what  a  sword 
it  is!  "Then  said  Mr.  Greatheart  to  Mr. 
Valiant-for-truth,  Thou  hast  worthily  be- 
haved thyself;  let  me  see  thy  sword.  So 
he  showed  it  him.  When  he  had  taken  it 
into  his  hand  and  looked  thereon  a  while, 
he  said,  Ha,  it  is  a  right  Jerusalem  blade. 
Then  said  Mr.  Valiant-for-truth,  It  is  so. 
Let  a  man  have  one  of  these  blades,  with 
a  hand  to  wield  it,  and  skill  to  use  it,  and 
he  may  venture  upon  an  angel  with  it. 
He  need  not  fear  its  holding  if  he  can  but 
tell  how  to  lay  on.  Its  edge  will  never 
blunt.  It  will  cut  flesh  and  bones,  and  soul 
and   spirit   and   all."     Yes   indeed,    this 

in 


112    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

sword  is  a  serviceable  and  most  efficient 
weapon.  And  it  might  be  profitable,  in  the 
very  beginning  of  our  meditation,  to  go 
on  to  the  field  of  actual  battle  and  watch 
one  or  two  mighty  swordsmen  wielding  the 
sword  in  actual  war.  And  let  us  begin 
with  Him  who  could  wield  the  sword  as 
none  other  could  do  and  who  never  drew 
it  in  vain.  ' l  And  the  tempter  came  to  Him 
and  said,  If  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God  com- 
mand that  these  stones  be  made  bread/ ' 
At  once  the  Master 's  hand  was  on  the  hilt 
of  His  sword  and  He  drew  it  forth  for 
combat  "It  is  written  man  shall  not  live 
by  bread  alone. ' '  It  was  l '  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God!"  The 
place  of  battle  is  now  changed,  but  the 
combat.  "It  is  written,  Man  shall  not  live 
unto  Him,  "All  these  things  will  I  give 
Thee  if  Thou  wilt  fall  down  and  worship 
me."  And  again  the  Master  whipped  out 
His  sword; — "Get  thee  hence,  Satan,  for 
it  is  written,  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord 
Thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  Thou  serve." 
It  was  "the  sword  of  the  Spirit  which  is 
the  Word  of  God!" 

Now  turn  your  eyes  to  quite  another 
field  of  battle  where  one  of  the  Master's 


THE  SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT      113 

disciples,  a  very  skilful  swordsman,  is  in 
combat  with  a  very  deadly  foe.  "And 
when  the  people  saw  what  Paul  had  done ' ' 
— he  had  just  given  a  cripple  the  power  to 
walk — "they  lifted  up  their  voices  saying, 
The  gods  are  come  down  to  us  in  the  like- 
ness of  men.  And  they  called  Barnabas 
Jupiter,  and  Paul  Mercurius,  because  he 
was  the  chief  speaker.' '  Now  what  did 
the  apostle  do  in  the  presence  of  so  deadly 
a  peril,  a  peril  which  garbed  itself  in  the 
attractive  robes  of  light?  Immediately  he 
drew  out  his  sword,  and  fought  his  shin- 
ing antagonist  with  a  word  from  the  146th 
Psalm!  That  is  excellent  swordwork,  by 
a  most  excellent  swordsman !  And  he  used 
"the  sword  of  the  Spirit  which  is  the  Word 
of  God;" 

Or  turn  once  more  to  another  field  of 
battle,  to  the  Valley  of  Humiliation,  where 
"poor  Christian  was  hard  put  to  it.  For 
he  had  gone  but  a  little  way  before  he 
espied  a  foul  fiend  coming  over  the  field  to 
meet  him;  his  name  was  Ap^lyon." 
"Then  did  Christian  draw,  for  he  saw  it 
was  time  to  bestir  him;  Apollyon  as  fast 
made  at  him,  throwing  darts  as  thick  as 
hail.  .    .    .  The  sword  combat  lasted  for 


114    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

about  half  a  day,  even  till  Christian  was 
almost  quite  spent ;  for  you  must  know  that 
Christian,  by  reason  of  his  wounds,  must 
needs  grow  weaker  and  weaker.  Then 
Apollyon,  espying  his  opportunity,  began 
to  gather  up  close  to  Christian,  and  wrest- 
ling with  him  gave  him  a  dreadful  fall; 
and  with  that  Christian's  sword  flew  out 
of  his  hand.  Then  said  Apollyon,  I  am 
sure  of  thee  now.  And  with  that  he  had 
almost  pressed  him  to  death,  so  that 
Christian  began  to  despair  of  life.  But  as 
God  would  have  it,  while  Apollyon  was 
fetching  his  last  blow,  thereby  to  make  a 
full  end  of  this  good  man,  Christian  nimbly 
reached  out  his  hand  for  his  sword,  say- 
ing, Rejoice  not  against  me,  oh  mine 
enemy :  when  I  fall  I  shall  arise ;  and  with 
that  gave  him  a  deadly  thrust  which  made 
him  give  back  as  one  that  had  received  his 
mortal  wound.  Christian  perceiving  that 
made  at  him  again,  saying,  'Nay,  in  all 
these  things  we  are  more  than  conquerors 
through  Him  that  loved  us.'  And  with 
that  Apollyon  spread  forth  his  broken 
wings,  and  sped  him  away,  so  that  Chris- 
tian saw  him  no  more*.  ...  I  never  saw 
Christian  all  this  while  give  as  much  as 


THE  SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT       115 

one  pleasant  look,  till  he  perceived  lie  had 
wounded  Apollyon  with  his  two-edged 
sword;  then  indeed  he  did  smile  and  look 
upward.  .  .  .  Then  there  came  to  him  a 
man  with  some  of  the  leaves  of  the  tree 
of  life,  the  which  Christian  took  and  ap- 
plied to  the  wounds  that  he  had  received 
in  the  battle  and  was  healed  immediately. ' ' 
Surely  to  watch  expert  fighters  like  these, 
who  turn  their  battle-fields  into  fields  of 
glory,  makes  one  more  ambitious  to  pos- 
sess and  wield  that  same  two-edged  sword, 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit  which  is  the  Word 
of  God! 

Well  now,  it  is  this  sword  which  Paul 
advises  these  young  disciples  at  Ephesus 
to  get  and  hold  at  all  costs,  and  never  to 
leave  it  rusting  in  the  scabbard  at  home. 
And  surely,  if  there  was  need  for  sword- 
work  anywhere  it  was  in  that  gay,  shal- 
low, materialistic  city  of  Ephesus.  We 
have  been  reading  many  terrible  accounts 
of  late  of  bayonet  fighting  in  the  trenches 
in  Belgium  and  France,  where  gunnery  at- 
tacks were  unavailable,  and  where  men 
came  face  to  face  in  the  hot  breath  of  one 
another's  passions,  and  were  locked  in  the 
death-grip  of  hand-to-hand  encounter.     It 


116    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

was  even  so  with  the  spiritual  warfare  in 
Ephesus.  There  was  no  long-range  fight- 
ing, no  far  distant  antagonisms,  no  remote 
or  merely  theoretical  persecution.  The 
foes  of  the  soul  were  exceedingly  real, 
exceedingly  near,  and  exceedingly  inti- 
mate. In  Ephesus  your  enemy  was  upon 
you  in  a  moment,  and  there  was  nothing 
for  it  but  never  to  let  the  sword  fall  from 
your  hand.  Spiritual  enemies  approached 
the  soul  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  it  was 
imperative  to  run  them  through  with  the 
sword  of  the  truth.  There  were  falsities, 
and  subtleties,  and  evasions;  there  were 
ambiguities  and  sophistries;  there  were 
half  truths  linked  with  black  falsehood, 
and  white  lies  linked  with  snatches  of 
truth;  there  were  exaggerations  and  per- 
versions; there  were  insinuations  and  evil 
counsels;  there  were  mean  expediencies 
and  illicit  compromises ;  there  were  hypoc- 
risies of  every  kind  in  that  prosperous 
city  of  Ephesus,  tricked  out  in  apparent 
seemliness,  and  perilous  in  all  the  wiles  of 
the  devil.  "What,  then,  was  a  young  Chris- 
tian to  do  in  all  that  immoral  welter?  He 
must  have  his  sword  in  hand,  always  in 
hand,  and  he  must  prick  these  bubbles,  and 


THE  SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT      117 

pierce  these  showy  disguises,  and  rend 
these  deceptive  veils,  and  he  must  do  it  at 
once,  before  they  mastered  him  with  the 
plausible  counterfeits  of  the  truth. 

I  saw  a  photograph  the  other  day  from 
the  European  field  of  war,  in  which  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  were  examining  a  load  of 
hay.  They  were  piercing  it  with  their 
swords  in  the  endeavour  to  find  out  if  any 
foe  lay  hidden  in  the  fragrant  pile.  And 
I  could  not  but  think  of  the  warfare  of  the 
soul,  and  of  the  sweet  and  fragrant  dis- 
guises in  which  the  devil  is  so  often  con- 
cealed. The  devil  in  a  hay-rick!  I  have 
experienced  it  a  thousand  times.  A  deadly 
temptation  hidden  in  some  innocent  expe- 
diency! Some  fatal  lure  concealed  in  a 
popular  custom !  Corruption  housing  itself 
in  a  white  lie !  The  enemy  wearing  a  white 
robe !  The  devil,  I  say,  in  a  hay-rick !  In 
such  conditions  there  was  only  one  resource 
for  these  disciples  in  Ephesus,  as  there  is 
only  one  resource  for  you  and  me  to-day, 
to  have  our  swords  always  ready,  and  to 
pierce  these  glistening  falsities  in  the 
blessed  name  of  the  holy  and  unchanging 
God.  Yes,  whip  out  your  sword,  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God. 


118    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

What,  then,  is  this  sword!  It  is  "the 
Word  of  God."  And  what  is  this  Word 
of  God  which  we  are  to  flash  through  all 
falsehood  like  the  thrust  of  a  gleaming 
sword?  What  is  this  Word  which  is  to 
be  our  sword?  Well,  first  of  all,  it  is  the 
word  of  divine  truth;  God's  way  of  think- 
ing about  things.  And  therefore  when  we 
are  wielding  the  sword  we  are  using  a 
thought  of  God.  We  are  to  use  God's 
thought  about  a  thing  in  fighting  all  other 
thoughts  about  that  thing.  For  instance, 
we  are  to  take  God's  thought  about  life, 
and  use  it  as  a  sword  to  meet  and  destroy 
all  mean  and  unworthy  conceptions  of  life. 
We  are  to  take  God's  thought  about  sin 
and  use  it  in  combating  all  the  lax  and 
deadly  conceptions  of  sin  which  are  so 
loose  and  rampant  in  our  own  day.  We 
are  to  take  God's  thought  about  holiness, 
and  use  it  in  fighting  all  ignoble  compro- 
mises which  may  satisfy  a  poor  standard 
in  the  kingdom  of  the  letter,  but  which 
have  no  standing  in  the  more  glorious 
realm  of  the  spirit.  We  are  to  take  God's 
thought  about  worship,  and  fight  all  the 
little,  mean,  seductive  ritualisms  which  so 
frequently  strut  about  in  royal  and  gor- 


THE  SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT      119 

geous  robes,  but  which  are  empty  of  all 
vital  spiritual  wealth  and  power. 

And  so  with  a  thousand  other  relations. 
God's  thought  about  a  thing  is  to  be  our 
sword  in  fighting  all  the  debasing  thoughts 
of  that  thing;  it  may  be  God's  thought  of 
work,  or  of  wealth,  or  of  success,  or  of 
failure,  or  God's  thought  of  pleasure,  or 
of  service,  or  of  death.  What  does  God 
think  about  a  thing?  That  is  my  sword, 
the  thought  of  God  which  is  the  word  of 
God.  And  we  are  to  take  that  shining, 
flaming,  flashing  thought,  and  use  it  as  a 
sword  among  all  the  creeping,  crawling 
things,  or  against  all  the  flying  and 
bewitching  subtleties  of  things  which 
abounded  in  Ephesus,  and  which  are 
equally  prolific  in  London  or  New  York. 
And  so  does  the  apostle  give  us  this  coun- 
sel: "Take  the  sword  of  the  spirit,  which 
is  the  thought  or  word  of  God." 

And  now  I  can  add  a  second  character- 
istic of  the  sword,  a  characteristic  which 
amplifies  and  corroborates  the  first.  This 
word  of  God,  which  is  to  be  our  sword,  is 
not  only  the  word  of  divine  truth  as  laid 
upon  the  mind.  It  is  also  the  word  of 
divine  commandment  as  laid  upon  the  will. 


120    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

It  is  a  word  which  divinely  reveals  our 
personal  duty,  imposing  upon  us  some  im- 
perative mission.  Some  word  of  God 
comes  to  us  with  the  mysterious  sugges- 
tion of  obligation,  and  we  often  receive 
it  over  against  some  soft  and  wooing  temp- 
tation to  an  indulgent  indolence;  and  we 
are  to  take  the  divine  word  of  obligation, 
and  with  it  fight  and  slay  the  soft  seduc- 
tion to  ease. 

We  have  this  sort  of  warfare  most 
vividly  described  in  the  experience  of  the 
prophet  Jonah.  Let  me  set  it  before  you. 
"And  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto 
Jonah,  saying,  Arise,  go  to  Nineveh,  that 
great  city,  and  cry  against  it!"  Let  us 
note  the  lines  of  this  experience.  The 
word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Jonah  as  an 
imperative  and  an  obligation.  It  said 
"Nineveh !"  But  another  word  came  to 
Jonah,  a  soft,  luxurious,  seductive  word, 
luring  him  to  Tarshish.  And  there  you 
have  all  the  conditions  of  spiritual  war- 
fare ;  and  the  only  way  for  the  believer  is 
to  take  the  word  of  obligation,  and  use 
it  as  a  mighty  sword  against  the  word  of 
seduction ;  he  must  take  his  sword  and  slay 
it,  or  chase  it  in  miserable  flight  from  the 


THE  SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT      121 

field.  The  word  of  duty  is  the  word  of 
God,  and  therefore  the  word  of  duty  is 
thy  sword  against  every  plausible  temp- 
tation that  would  snare  thee  to  disloyal 
ease. 

There  is  still  a  third  descriptive  word 
about  the  sword,  and  which  again  corrobo- 
rates and  enriches  the  others.  The  word 
of  God,  which  is  the  sword  of  the  spirit, 
is  not  only  the  word  of  divine  truth  laying 
God's  thought  upon  the  mind;  and  not 
only  the  word  of  divine  commandment  lay- 
ing God's  purpose  upon  the  will;  it  is 
also  the  word  of  divine  promise  laying 
God's  strengthening  comfort  upon  the 
heart.  Just  think  of  that  fine  sword,  the 
word  of  promise,  being  handed  to  these 
young  and  tempted  disciples  in  this  awful, 
hostile  city  of  Ephesus.  I  think  we  may 
easily  imagine,  without  presumption,  how 
they  would  apply  the  apostle's  counsel, 
and  how  the  older  men  among  them  would 
train  the  younger  men  in  the  expert  use 
of  this  shining  sword.  They  would  say: 
"  Whenever  you  go  out  to  your  work, 
amid  all  the  cold,  bristling  antagonisms  of 
the  world,  carry  the  sword  of  promise! 
When  your  circumstances  seem  to  mock 


122    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

yon  because  of  your  unnerving  loneliness, 
whip  out  the  sword  of  promise !  When  you 
appear  to  be  in  a  minority  of  one,  and  the 
enemy  swarms  in  menace  around  you  on 
every  side,  carry  this  sword  of  promise  in 
your  right  hand,  'I  will  never  leave  thee 
nor  forsake  thee.'  And  when  the  enemy 
taunts  you  because  of  your  weakness,  or 
your  want  of  culture,  or  your  lack  of  rank 
and  social  prestige,  or  your  nobodyism  and 
nothingism,  whip  out  the  sword  and  fight 
the  taunt  with  this  word  of  promise, 
'  Neither  shall  any  one  pluck  you  out  of 
my  hand'!"  Thus  do  I  think  these  dis- 
ciples would  speak  to  one  another,  as, 
blessed  be  God,  disciples  can  speak  to  one 
another  to-day.  When  the  devil  comes  to 
us  in  our  loneliness,  in  our  weakness,  in 
our  seeming  abandonment,  let  us  lay  hold 
of  the  word  of  grace,  and  fight  all  the 
enemies'  taunts  with  the  divine  promise, 
and  pierce  them  through  and  through, 
turning  the  foe  to  rout,  and  remaining 
more  than  conquerors  on  the  hard  and 
finely  won  field. 

Well,  such  is  what  I  think  to  be  the 
sword.  It  is  the  word  of  divine  truth, 
it  is  the  word  of  divine  commandment,  and 


THE  SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT      123 

it  is  the  word  of  divine  promise.  It  is  a 
superlatively  excellent  sword,  "it  is  a 
right  Jerusalem  blade. M  ' '  Let  a  man  have 
one  of  these  blades,  with  a  hand  to  wield 
it,  and  skill  to  use  it,  and  he  may  venture 
upon  an  angel  with  it"."  Its  edge  will 
never  blunt,  for  it  is  "the  sword  of  the 
spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God." 

Where,  then,  can  we  find  this  word  of 
God  which  is  to  be  our  sword  of  the  spirit. 
Well,  first  of  all,  we  can  find  the  word  of 
God  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  We  can  get 
our  sword  from  its  splendid  armoury. 
Here  is  the  word  which  gives  the  revela- 
tion of  truth,  telling  me  how  the  great  God 
thinks  about  things,  and  therefore,  telling 
me  how  to  think  amid  all  the  plausible 
errors  of  our  time.  And  here,  too,  is  the 
word  which  gives  the  revelation  of  duty, 
telling  me  what  the  great  God  would  have 
me  do.  And  here  also  is  the  word  which 
gives  the  revelation  of  promise,  telling  me 
what  resources  are  prepared  for  them  who 
follow  the  fair  gleams  of  truth  and  take 
the  divine  road  of  duty  and  obedience. 
Yes,  the  word  of  God  is  in  the  old  Book, 
and  here  you  can  find  your  sword. 

But  sometimes  the  word  of  God  is  given 


124    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

to  us,  not  through  the  medium  of  a  book, 
not  even  the  book  of  the  Scriptures,  but  in 
a  direct  and  immediate  message  to  our 
own  souls.  Oh,  yes,  sometimes  the  Cap- 
tain of  our  salvation  gives  me  my  sword 
without  my  having  to  make  recourse  to 
the  written  word.  He  speaks  to  me  and 
hands  me  my  sword  with  no  intermediary 
between  us.  The  word  of  the  Lord  comes 
unto  thee  and  unto  me  as  it  came  to  the 
herdman  Amos,  and  the  courtier  Isaiah, 
and  to  the  fisherman  Peter,  and  to  the 
university  student  Paul.  He  speaks  to  thee 
and  to  me".  "Hath  He  not  promised,  and 
shall  He  not  do  it"?  "Thine  ears  shall 
hear  a  word  behind  thee,  saying,  This  is 
the  way;  walk  ye  in  it." 

"And  His  that  gentle  voice  we  hear, 
Soft  as  the  breath  of  even ; 
That  checks  each  fault,  and  calms  each  fear, 
And  speaks  of  heaven ! ' ' 

If  the  sword  of  the  spirit  is  the  word 
of  God,  then  sometimes  I  take  my  sword 
immediately  from  my  Sovereign's  hand, — 
the  word  of  truth,  the  word  of  duty,  and 
the  word  of  promise, — and  like  St.  Francis 


THE  SWORD  OF  THE  SPIRIT      125 

of  Assisi,  and  St.  Catherine  of  Sienna,  and 
George  Fox,  all  of  them  mystics,  and  all 
of  them  deep  in  the  knowledge  of  the  mind 
and  heart  of  God,  I,  too,  can  take  the  sword 
and  use  it  on  the  wide  and  changing  bat- 
tlefields of  life,  and  be  more  than  con- 
queror through  Him  Who  loved  me  and 
gave  Himself  for  me.  "Take  the  sword 
of  the  spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God. ' ' 

Well,  then,  let  us  take  the  sword;  let 
us  draw  it,  and  let  us  use  it.  Let  us  reve- 
rently find  the  word  in  the  Book  of  Holy 
Writ,  or  in  the  secret  chamber  of  our  own 
soul ;  and  then  let  us  carry  it  as  our  sword 
to  the  immediate  occasion,  and  to  the  next 
stage  upon  life's  road.  Let  us  have  the 
sword  ready,  always  ready;  let  us  be 
always  at  attention,  waiting  with  the  word 
of  God  to  meet  the  tempting  word  of  man. 
A  man  without  a  sword  is  in  a  sorry  way 
when  the  devil  leaps  upon  him.  That  was 
the  tragic  plight  of  Judas  Iscariot.  When 
the  chief  priests  and  scribes  came  to  bar- 
gain with  him,  to  induce  him  to  sell  his 
Lord,  he  ought  to  have  had  his  sword 
ready,  and  to  have  run  it  through  the 
devilish  suggestion  when  it  was  only  newly 
born.    But  somehow,  somehow,  he  had  lost 


126    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

his  sword,  and  he  was  undone — "and  he 
covenanted  with  them  for  thirty  pieces  of 
silver ' ' !  And  when  you  and  I  are  tempted 
to  sell  the  Lord,  when  we  are  tempted  to 
make  a  dirty  bargain  of  any  kind,  when 
we  are  tempted  to  prefer  money  to  integ- 
rity, or  unholy  ease  to  stern  duty,  or  soft 
flattery  to  rugged  truth,  let  us  have  our 
swords  in  our  hands, — "the  sword  of  the 
spirit  which  is  the  word  of  God" — and 
let  us  slay  the  suggestion  at  its  very  birth. 
Have  your  sword  ready*.  You  may  need 
it  before  you  get  home.  Have  your  sword 
ready !  Fight  the  good  fight  of  faith,  and 
lay  hold  on  eternal  life. 


VIII 

THE  SOLDIER'S  USE 
OF  PRAYER 


ALMIGHTY  COD,  OUR  FATHER,  it  is  by  Thy  grace 
that  we  attain  unto  holiness,  and  it  is  by  Thy  light  that  we 
find  wisdom.  We  humbly  pray  that  Thy  grace  and  light  may 
be  given  unto  us,  so  that  we  may  come  into  the  liberty  of  purity 
and  truth.  Wilt  Thou  graciously  exalt  our  spirits  and  enable 
us  to  live  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus?  Impart  unto  us 
a  deep  dissatisfaction  with  everything  that  is  low,  and  mean, 
and  unclean,  and  create  within  us  such  pure  desire  that  we  may 
appreciate  the  things  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for  them  that 
love  Thee.  Wilt  Thou  receive  us  as  guests  of  Thy  table?  Give 
us  the  glorious  sense  of  Thy  presence,  and  the  precious  privilege 
of  intimate  communion.  Feed  us  with  the  bread  of  life;  nour- 
ish all  our  spiritual  powers;  help  us  to  find  our  delight  in  such 
things  as  please  Thee.  Give  us  strength  to  fight  the  good  fight 
of  faith.  Give  us  holy  courage,  that  we  may  not  be  daunted  by 
any  fear,  or  turn  aside  from  our  appointed  task.  Make  us 
calm  when  we  are  to  tread  an  unfamilicr  road,  and  may  Thy 
presence  give  us  companionship  divine.  Meet  with  us,  we 
humbly  pray  Thee,  in  all  the  appointed  means  of  grace,  and 
may  the  joyful  remembrance  of  this  service  inspire  us  in  all 
common  life  and  service  of  after  days.    Amen, 


VIII 
THE  SOLDIER'S  USE  OF  PRAYER 

"Praying  always  with  all  prayer 
and  supplication  in  the  Spirit,  and 
watching  thereunto  with  all  perse- 
verance and  supplication  for  all 
saints;  and  for  me  that  utterance 
may  be  given  unto  me,  that  I  may 
open  my  mouth  boldly,  to  make 
known  the  mystery  of  the  gospel." 
Ephesians  6 :  18,  19. 

WE  have  been  engaged  in  studying 
the  different  pieces  of  the  Chris- 
tian soldier's  armour  as  it  is 
described  to  us  by  the  apostle  Paul.  Let 
us  now  glance  at  the  warrior  as  he  stands 
before  us  fully  armed  and  ready  for  the 
field.  His  loins  are  girt  about  with  truth, 
the  truth  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord*.  He  is  protected  back  and  front  with 
a  coat  of  mail,  the  righteousness  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  a  righteousness  which  covers 
him  in  a  moment  as  with  a  garment,  and 
then  little  by  little  imparts  to  him  the  holy 
likeness  of  his  Lord.  His  feet  are  shod 
with  readiness,  and  are  swiftly  obedient  to 
do  the  King's  bidding  and  to  carry  his 

129 


130    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

message  of  grace  and  good-will.  He  bears 
the  shield  of  faith,  his  sure  screen  from 
every  deadly  dart  springing  from  any  kind 
of  circumstance,  whether  in  the  cloudless 
noon  or  in  the  blackest  midnight.  On  his 
head  there  is  the  helmet  of  salvation,  the 
helmet  of  a  mighty  hope,  protecting  his 
mind  from  the  invasion  of  deadly  distrac- 
tions, and  from  all  the  belittling  sugges- 
tions of  the  evil  one.  In  his  hand  he  car- 
ries the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  the  word  or 
thought  of  God,  the  shining  thought  where- 
with every  other  kind  of  thought  is  over- 
thrown or  put  to  utter  rout. 

Now  that,  surely,  is  a  brave  and  gleam- 
ing equipment.  Surely  the  armour  is  all- 
sufficient,  and  the  well-appointed,  well-de- 
fended warrior  is  now  ready  for  the  field ! 
Let  him  go  forth  to  meet  the  great  enemy  of 
souls.  Let  him  encounter  all  the  wiles  of 
the  devil,  and  let  him  so  hold  himself  and  so 
use  himself  as  to  convert  every  hour  of 
opportunity  into  a  season  of  spiritual 
glory.  No,  no,  not  yet !  Says  the  apostle, 
"Steady!"  With  all  his  shining  armour 
his  equipment  is  not  yet  complete.  There 
is  one  other  vital  thing  to  be  named,  and 
this  the  Christian  warrior  must  take  along 


THE  SOLDIER'S  USE  OF  PRAYER   131 

with  him,  for  his  warfare  will  be  hopeless 
if  he  leaves  it  behind.  "  Praying  always  with 
all  prayer  and  supplication  in  the  Spirit, 
and  watching  thereunto  with  all  persever- 
ance and  supplication  for  all  saints.' ' 

Now  why  should  the  Christian  warrior 
pray?  He  must  pray  as  a  suppliant  for 
the  robust  health  of  his  own  spirit.  Yes, 
but  why  should  he  pray  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  his  own  spiritual  health?  What 
is  the  vital  relationship  between  the  pray- 
ing soul  and  the  attainment  of  moral  and 
spiritual  robustness?  How  is  prayer  re- 
lated to  a  man's  moral  force?  This  is  the 
relationship.  A  praying  warrior  receives 
into  his  soul  the  grace-energies  of  the 
eternal  God.  The  power  of  grace  is  just 
the  holy  love  and  strength  and  beauty  of 
the  holy  Godhead  flowing  into  the  needs 
of  the  soul  and  filling1  them  with  its  own 
completeness.  Now  we  do  not  pray  in 
order  to  make  God  willing  to  impart  this 
grace,  but  in  order  to  fit  ourselves  to  re- 
ceive it.  We  do  not  pray  to  ingratiate 
God's  good-will,  but  to  open  our  souls  in 
hospitality.  We  do  not  pray  in  order  to 
create  a  friendly  air,  but  to  let  it  in,  not 
to  propitiate  God  but  to  appropriate  Him. 


132    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

We  do  not  pray  to  turn  a  reluctant  God 
toward  ourselves,  but  to  turn  our  reluctant 
selves  toward  a  ready  and  bountiful  God. 

It  is  imperative  that  we  should  lay  hold 
of  this  teaching  very  firmly.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  moment  we  should  know  what  we 
are  doing  when  we  pray  for  the  bracing 
and  sanctifying  energies  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Prayer  then,  I  say,  is  first  and 
chiefly  the  establishment  of  communion 
with  God.  Prayer  is  the  clearing  of  the 
blocked  roads  which  are  crowded  with  all 
sorts  of  worldly  hindrances.  Prayer  is 
the  preparing  of  the  way  of  the  Lord. 
When  I  turn  to  the  Lord  in  prayer  I  open 
the  doors  and  windows  of  my  soul  toward 
the  heavenlies,  and  I  open  them  for  the 
reception  of  any  gifts  of  grace  which  God's 
holy  love  may  wish  me  to  receive.  My 
reverent  thought  in  prayer  perfects  com- 
munion between  my  soul  and  God. 

Let  me  offer  an  illustration.  I  am  told 
there  is  electricity  in  my  house.  I  am 
told  that  this  mysterious,  invisible,  electric 
spirit  is  waiting  to  be  my  minister  and 
to  serve  me  in  a  dozen  different  ways.  I 
go  into  a  room  where  the  genius  is  said 
to  be  waiting,  and  yet  the  room  is  held  in 


THE  SOLDIER'S  USE  OF  PRAYER   133 

darkness.  Where  is  this  friendly  spirit! 
Where  is  the  light  which  is  one  of  its 
promised  services!  And  then  I  am  told 
that  an  action  of  mine,  qnite  a  simple  one, 
is  required,  and  that  when  the  action  has 
been  performed  the  waiting  spirit  will  re- 
veal itself  in  radiant  beams.  And  so  I 
bring  my  will  into  play,  and  I  push  a 
button,  or  I  lift  a  tiny  lever,  and  my 
action  completes  the  circuit,  and  the  subtle 
energy  leaps  into  the  carbon  filament  and 
turns  my  darkness  into  light. 

That  is  it!  My  action  completes  the 
circuit !  And  when  I  turn  my  will  to  pray, 
when  I  seek  the  holy,  sanctifying  power  of 
God,  my  prayer  completes  the  circuit  be- 
tween my  soul  and  God,  and  I  receive 
whatever  the  inexhaustible  fountain  of 
grace  is  always  waiting  to  bestow.  And 
so  do  I  say  that  prayer  is  first  of  all,  and 
most  of  all,  the  establishing  of  a  vital 
communion  between  the  soul  and  God: 

Lord  Tennyson,  in  what  must  have  been 
a  wonderful  conversation  on  the  subject  of 
prayer  with  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  Holman 
Hunt,  and  James  Addington  Symonds, 
said  that  to  him  prayer  was  the  opening  of 
the  sluice-gates  between  his  soul  and  the 


134        THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

waters  of  eternal  life.  It  is  worth  while 
just  to  dwell  upon  Tennyson's  figure  for 
a  moment.  The  figure  may  have  been 
taken  from  a  canal.  You  enter  a  lock 
and  you  are  shut  up  within  its  prison. 
And  then  you  open  the  sluice-gates,  and 
the  water  pours  into  your  prison  and  lifts 
you  up  to  the  higher  level,  and  your  boat 
emerges  again  on  a  loftier  plane  of  your 
journey. 

Or  the  figure  may  have  been  taken  from 
a  miller's  wheel:  There  are  the  miller  and 
his  mill.  And  the  wheel  is  standing  idle, 
or  it  is  running  but  sluggishly  and  wearily 
at  its  work.  And  then  the  miller  opens 
the  sluice-gate,  and  the  waiting  water 
rushes  along,  and  leaps  upon  the  wheel, 
and  makes  it  sing  in  the  bounding  rapidity 
of  its  motion.  Prayer,  says  Tennyson,  is 
the  opening  of  the  sluice-gates  and  the 
letting  into  the  soul  of  the  waiting  life  and 
power  of  God.  Prayer  opens  the  sluice- 
gates, and  the  water  of  life  floods  the  slug- 
gish affections,  and  freshens  the  drowsy 
sympathies,  and  braces  and  speeds  the  will 
like  the  glorious  rush  of  the  stream  upon 
the  miller's  wheel. 

That,  to  me,  is  the  dominant  conception 


THE  SOLDIER'S  USE  OF  PRAYER    135 

of  prayer.  Prayer  opens  the  soul  to  God. 
Prayer  opens  the  life  to  the  workings  of 
infinite  grace.  And  now  I  see  why  the 
Christian  soldier  should  be  so  urgently 
counselled  to  pray.  Prayer  keeps  open  his 
lines  of  communication.  Prayer  keeps  him 
in  touch  with  his  base  of  supplies.  With- 
out prayer  he  is  isolated  by  the  flanking 
movements  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil,  and  he  will  speedily  give  ou+  in  the 
dark  and  cloudy  day.  "Men  ought  always 
to  pray  and  not  to  faint." 

If  that  is  one  reason  why  the  Chris- 
tian soldier  should  pray  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  bounding  health  of  his  own  spirit, 
we  are  now  faced  with  the  second  question 
as  to  when  he  should  pray.  And  here  is 
the  answer  of  the  veteran  warrior  Paul: 
"Praying  always."  Not  at  some  time,  but 
at  all  times !  * '  Praying  always. ' '  But  can 
we  do  that?  "Always"?  But  I  am  called 
upon  to  earn  my  daily  bread.  I  have  to 
face  a  hundred  different  problems.  Every 
bit  of  gray  matter  in  my  brain  is  devoting 
its  strength  to  the  immediate  task.  Is  it 
possible  for  us  to  think  of  two  things  at 
once?  Can  we  be  thinking  out  some  ab- 
sorbing question  in  business,  and  at  the 


136    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

same  time  be  praying  to  God!  One  thing 
is  surely  perfectly  clear,  we  cannot  al- 
ways be  thinking  of  God:  It  is  constitu- 
tionally impossible. 

But  now,  while  we  cannot  always  be 
thinking  of  God,  and  always  speaking  to 
God,  we  can  always  be  mentally  disposed 
toward  Him,  so  that  whatever  we  are  doing 
there  can  be  a  mental  leaning  or  bias  to- 
wards His  most  holy  will.    Let  me  show 
you  what  I  mean.     We  must  reverently 
dare  to  reason  in  this  great  matter  as  we 
reason  in  other  relationships.    Turn,  then, 
for  an  illustration,  to  common  gymnastics. 
In  physical  gymnastics  there  is  no  need  for 
us  to  be  always  exercising,  to  be  at  it  every 
moment  of  the  waking  day.    The  body  does 
not  need  it.     Indeed,  it  would  resent  it, 
and   rebel   against  it.     But   here   is  the 
healthy    genius    of    gymnastic    exercises. 
Regular  exercises  give  the  body  a  certain 
healthy  pose,  a  certain  vigour  and  excel- 
lence of  carriage,  which  the  body  retains 
between  the  exercises  when  we  are  going 
about  our  accustomed  work.     That  is  to 
say,  conscious  exercise  makes  unconscious 
habit.     Our  conscious  exercise  forces  the 
body  into  attitudes  which  persist  as  habits 


THE  SOLDIERS  USE  OF  PRAYER   137 

when  we  are  doing  something  else.  We 
can  retain  the  pose  of  the  gymnasium  on 
the  street,  and  we  can  retain  it  without 
thinking. 

And  so  it  is  with  spiritual  exercises 
when  they  are  as  real  as  the  exercises  in 
the  gymnasium.  When  a  man  prays,  and 
prays  as  deliberately  and  purposely  as  he 
practices  physical  exercises,  when  he  drills 
his  soul  as  he  drills  his  body,  he  gives  his 
mind  and  soul  a  certain  pose,  a  certain 
attitude,  a  certain  statelinesrf  and  loftiness 
of  carriage.  He  gives  his  soul  a  healthy 
bias  towards  God,  and  the  soul  retains  the 
bias  when  he  is  no  longer  upon  his  knees. 
His  soul  carries  itself  Godward  even 
when  he  is  earning  his  daily  bread.  God 
can  get  at  him  any  time  and  anywhere! 
The  way  is  open,  the  communion  is  un- 
broken ! 

That  is  the  vital  logic  of  the  matter. 
By  regular  spiritual  exercises  we  can  sub- 
due the  soul  to  spiritual  habit.  Again  and 
again  throughout  the  day  it  is  possible 
for  us,  by  a  conscious  upward  glance,  to 
confirm  the  habit ;  until  it  happens  that  the 
soul  is  always  in  the  posture  of  prayer, — 
in  business,  in  laughter,  in  trade,  at  home, 


138    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

or  abroad,  always  in  prayer, — and  there- 
fore, in  every  part  of  the  wide  and  varied 
battleground  of  life  receiving  the  all- 
sufficient  grace  and  love  of  God.  And  so 
the  Christian  soldier  is  to  be  "Praying 
always,  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  in 
the  spirit." 

But  the  Christian  soldier  is  not  only  a 
suppliant  for  his  own  spiritual  health.  He 
is  much  more  than  this.  The  apostle  coun- 
sels him  to  be  a  suppliant  for  the  health 
of  the  entire  Christian  army.  "Praying 
always,  with  all  prayer  and  supplication 
in  the  spirit,  and  watching  thereunto  with 
all  perseverance  and  supplication  for  all 
saints."  That  is  to  say,  the  Christian  sol- 
dier not  only  prays  for  the  health  of  his 
own  spirit,  but  for  a  healthy  "esprit  de 
corps"  throughout  the  whole  militant 
Church  of  Christ.  It  is  his  duty  and  privi- 
lege to  be  prayerfully  jealous  for  all  the 
saints,  and  for  the  spiritual  equipment  of 
all  his  fellow-soldiers  on  the  field: 

Now  this  is  a  very  wonderful  privilege 
entrusted  to  the  disciple  of  Christ.  To 
every  believer  there  is  entrusted  the  mar- 
vellous ministry  of  helping  others  to  re- 
ceive the  energies  of  divine  grace,  and  to 


THE  SOLDIER'S  USE  OF  PRAYER    139 

strengthen  them  in  the  fierce  combats  of 
their  own  "evil  day."  For  the  character 
of  our  evil  days  is  very  varied.  Your 
evil  day  may  not  be  mine,  and  my  evil 
day  may  not  be  yours.  What  makes  an 
evil  day  for  you  may  never  trouble  me, 
and  what  makes  my  day  difficult  and  tem- 
pestuous may  leave  you  perfectly  serene. 
It  is  to  be  accounted  for  in  many  ways.  The 
differences  in  our  circumstances  account, 
to  some  extent,  for  the  differences  in  our 
evil  days.  The  differences  in  our  occupa- 
tions create  great  differences  in  our  daily 
warfare  in  the  spirit.  The  differences  in 
our  temperaments  make  no  two  persons' 
battles  quite  alike.  And  yet,  with  all  our 
differences,  we  are  all  called  upon  to  stand 
in  our  own  evil  day,  "and  having  done  all, 
to  stand."  Peter's  evil  day  would  be  very 
different  from  John's.  Thomas'  evil  day 
would  be  very  different  from  Nathanael's. 
Dorcas'  evil  day  would  be  quite  different 
to  the  evil  days  which  gloomed  upon 
Euodia  and  Synteche:  But  blessed  be  God, 
by  the  holy  ministry  of  prayer  we  can 
strengthen  one  another  to  "stand  in  the 
evil  day."  We  can  help  every  soldier  to 
keep  his  spiritual  roads  open  and  to  pre- 


140    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

pare  the  way  of  the  Lord.  We  are  called 
upon  to  be  sentinel  suppliants  on  their 
behalf,  "watching  thereunto  with  all  per- 
severance and  supplication  for  all  saints.' ' 
We  are  to  be  ever  on  the  look-out,  vigilant 
for  the  entire  army  of  the  Lord,  divinely 
jealous  for  its  healthy  spirit,  and  seeking 
for  every  man  in  the  ranks  the  grace  and 
glory  which  we  seek  for  ourselves.  Wh.at 
a  magnificent  man  this  true  soldier  of  the 
Lord  must  be! 

And  then,  just  to  finish  it  all,  and  by  one 
example  to  show  us  how  deep  and  wide  is 
this  ministry  of  supplication,  the  apostle 
Paul  asks  the  young  Ephesian  soldiers  to 
pray  for  him.  "And  for  me,  that  utter- 
ance may  be  given  unto  me."  Let  us  care- 
fully note  this,  and  let  us  observe  its 
heartening  significance.  These  young,  im- 
mature Christians  in  Ephesus,  trembling 
in  their  early  faith,  are  asked  to  pray  for 
the  old  warrior  in  Rome.  He  is  now  "an 
ambassador  in  bonds,"  held  in  captivity 
in  imperial  Rome,  and  the  young  soldiers 
in  Ephesus  are  asked  to  be  sentinel-sup- 
pliants for  the  stricken  soldier  far  away. 
Do  you  believe  this?  And  what  does  he 
want  them  to  pray  for?     Listen  to  him 


THE  SOLDIER'S  USE  OP  PRAYER   141 

again.  "And  for  me,  that  utterance  may 
be  given  nnto  me."  Have  you  got  the 
real  inwardness  of  that  appeal?  A  poor 
slave  in  Ephesus  may,  by  his  own  prayer, 
anoint  the  lips  of  a  great  apostle  with 
grace  and  power.  What  a  vista  of  power- 
ful possibility !  Do  all  congregations  real- 
ize that  privilege  and  service  concerning 
their  ministers?  "For  me,  that  utterance 
may  be  given  unto  me; ' '  Do  I  realize  that 
my  prayers,  obscure  and  nameless  though 
I  be,  can  give  utterance  to  a  Paul,  a  Liv- 
ingstone, a  Moffatt,  or  a  Chalmers?  Do 
I  realize  that  I  can  pour  grace  upon  their 
lips?  What  a  brave  and  splendid  privi- 
lege! Am  I  using  it?  I  cannot  get  out 
of  my  mind  the  vision  of  some  poor  slave 
in  Ephesus  pouring  grace  and  truth  upon 
the  apostle's  lips  in  Kome,  and  I  cannot 
get  out  of  my  imagination  the  surprise 
which  awaited  the  slave  in  glory,  when 
Paul  asked  him,  as  a  fellow-labourer,  to 
share  in  gathering  in  the  sheaves. 

"And  for  me,  that  utterance  may  be 
given  unto  me,  that  I  may  open  my  mouth 
boldly.' '  And  can  we  do  that  for  a  man, 
and  do  it  by  prayer  ?  Can  one  soldier  give 
another  soldier  nerve,  and  can  he  do  it  by 


142    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

prayer?  Can  he  chase  away  his  fears ? 
Can  he  change  timidity  into  pluck?  Can 
he  transform  a  lamb  into  a  lion?  What  a 
marvellous  power  has  God  given  to  me 
and  thee!  The  unbounded  privilege  of  it 
all!  Some  slave  in  Ephesus  giving  new 
boldness  to  Paul  in  Rome,  and  enabling 
Paul  to  take  some  new  ground  and  conquer 
it  for  the  Lord !  And  once  again  I  say,  to 
be  called  to  share  in  the  apostle's  tri- 
umphs! If  any  one  has  prayed  for  me, 
your  fellow-soldier,  that  utterance  and 
courage  may  be  given  unto  me,  and  if  by 
my  ministry  some  depressed  and  retreat- 
ing soldier  finds  heart  again,  and  takes  up 
his  fallen  sword,  and  fights  anew  the  good 
fight,  then  that  suppliant  shall  share  my 
holy  conquest  in  the  Lord,  and  the  joy  of 
the  Lord  shall  be  his  strength. 

So  once  again,  let  us  hear  the  apostle's 
counsel,  and  keep  it  in  our  hearts.  ' '  Pray- 
ing always  with  all  prayer  and  supplication 
in  the  Spirit,  and  watching  thereunto  with 
all  perseverance  and  supplication  for  all 
saints;  and  for  me,  that  utterance  may 
be  given  unto  me,  that  I  may  open  my 
mouth  boldly,  to  make  known  the  mysteries 
of  the  gospel." 


IX 

WATCH  YE!" 


ETERNAL  GOD,  we  bow  before  Thee  as  the  children  of  grace 
and  love.  Purify  our  souls,  make  our  eyes  keen  and  watchful,  in 
order  that  we  may  discern  Thy  purpose  at  every  turning  of  the  way. 
Help  us  to  hallow  all  our  circumstances  whether  they  appear 
friendly  or  adverse,  and  may  we  subdue  them  all  to  the  King's 
will.  We  pray  that  we  may  obtain  new  visions  of  the  glory 
of  Christ.  May  His  gospel  of  grace  become  more  exceedingly 
precious  as  we  gaze  into  its  unsearchable  wealth.  Let  in  the 
light  as  our  eyes  are  able  to  bear  it.  Tell  us  some  of  the  many 
things  which  are  yet  withholden  because  we  are  not  able  to  bear 
them.  May  we  exercise  our  senses  in  discernment,  that  so 
we  may  be  led  into  the  deeper  secrets  of  Thy  truth.  And  wilt 
Thou  graciously  grant  unto  us  new  possibilities  of  service. 
May  we  light  lamps  on  many  a  dark  road.  May  we  give  help 
to  many  a  tired  pilgrim  who  is  burdened  by  the  greatness  of  lite 
way.  May  we  give  cups  of  refreshment  to  those  who  are  thirsty 
and  faint.  And  may  our  own  faith  and  hope  restore  the  flick- 
ering light  where  courage  is  nearly  spent.     Amen. 


IX 
WATCH  YE! 

"Watch  ye,  stand  fast  in  the 
faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong." 
I  Corinthians  16 :  13. 

THIS  is  the  counsel  of  a  brave  war- 
rior, experienced  and  weather- 
beaten,  writing  to  raw  and  com- 
paratively untried  recruits.  One  is  re- 
minded of  the  veteran  Lord  Roberts  when 
he  lately  spake  to  young  English  recruits 
who  had  not  yet  been  baptised  in  the 
actual  flames  of  battle,  advising  them 
about  their  own  warfare  of  the  spirit,  and 
counselling  them  on  no  account  to  forfeit 
their  self-respect  and  self-control.  And 
this  tried  warrior,  Paul,  is  addressing  a 
little  company  of  Christian  recruits  in  the 
city  of  Corinth.  Corinth  is  now  wiped  out, 
buried  in  the  accumulated  debris  of  the 
centuries.  Here  and  there  an  excavated 
column  bears  desolate  witness  to  the  glory 
of  former  days,  but  Corinth  as  a  city  is 

145 


146    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

sealed  up  in  an  unknown  grave.  But  just 
behind  the  site  of  the  city  there  appears 
the  Acrocorinthius,  rising  to  the  height  of 
two  thousand  feet.  I  climbed  this  famous 
hill  in  the  spring  because  I  wanted  to  see 
the  panorama  on  which  the  apostle  had 
gazed,  and  also  to  see  the  setting  and  re- 
lations of  this  once  imperial  city.  It  was 
a  wonderful  vision  of  natural  glory,  with 
deep,  far-stretching  valleys,  and  distant 
gleams  of  the  sea,  and  range  upon  range 
of  hills,  many  of  them  snow-covered  and 
glistening  in  the  blazing  sunshine  of  a 
splendid  noon.  There  below  was  the  plain 
on  which  Corinth  found  her  shelter,  and 
beyond  the  plain  the  narrow  water-way, 
which  gave  her  such  intimate  relations 
with  the  commerce  of  the  Mediterranean; 
and  beyond  the  water-way  there  is  a  touch 
of  old  romance,  for  there  rise  the  shrines 
of  the  muses,  the  twin  peaks  of  Helicon 
and  Parnassus. 

Standing  on  this  elevated  eminence  I 
tried  to  realize  the  conditions  in  which  this 
little  company  of  Christian  recruits  had  to 
live  the  consecrated  life.  They  had  to  fight 
the  Christian  warfare  amid  the  soft  luxu- 
riousness     of    Corinth,     a    luxuriousness 


WATCH  YE!  147 

which  relaxed  the  moral  fibre,  and  made 
the  Corinthians  conspicuous  for  their  de- 
pravity, ' '  even  amid  all  the  depraved  cities 
of  a  dying  heathenism. ' '  Corinth  was  a 
city  of  abyssmal  profligacy;  "it  was  the 
Vanity  Fair  of  the  Eoman  Empire,  at  once 
the  London  and  Paris  of  the  ancient 
world"!  And  it  was  in  this  city,  away 
there  on  the  plain  before  me,  that  these 
untried  Christian  recruits  had  to  "fight 
the  good  fight  of  faith." 

Then  I  thought  of  the  little  church  in 
which  they  found  their  fellowship.  It  was 
besieged  by  continual  assaults  of  their 
Jewish  foes.  It  was  torn  with  internal 
divisions.  It  was  honeycombed  by  deadly 
heresies.  It  was  defiled  by  sensuality. 
Nearly  all  the  members  of  the  church  were 
of  obscure  origin  and  standing.  Many  of 
them  were  slaves.  It  was  in  these  condi- 
tions of  fierce  and  growing  difficulties  that 
these  disciples  had  to  be  good  soldiers  of 
Jesus  Christ.  And  it  is  to  this  little  com- 
pany of  Christian  recruits  that  the  apostle 
sends  this  challenging  letter  in  which  is 
found  the  rousing  bugle-peal  of  my  text. 
"Watch  ye,  stand  fast  in  the  faith,  quit 
you  like  men,  be  strong." 


148    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

Now  I  will  confess  to  you  that  times  and 
again  during  the  last  few  months  this 
trumpet-blast  has  sounded  in  my  ears,  as 
though  it  were  a  clarion-call  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  to-day.  For  we  too  have  our  war- 
fare upon  a  most  exacting  field.  We  have 
fallen  upon  gravely  troubled  times.  We 
are  witnessing  a  resurgence  of  devilry  that 
is  perfectly  appalling.  The  baser  passions 
have  become  frightfully  aggressive,  and  a 
crude  animalism  is  at  large  like  a  surging, 
boiling  sea  which  has  burst  its  dykes. 
Some  of  us  had  begun  to  dream  that  the 
sweet  angel  of  peace  was  almost  at  our 
gates,  and  that  nothing  could  happen  to 
drive  her  away;  and  now,  when  we  look 
out  of  the  gate,  it  is  no  fair  angel-messen- 
ger which  we  see,  but  the  red  fury  of  un- 
precedented strife  and  slaughter.  And 
amid  all  this  we  have  to  live  the  Christian 
life. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  "  fightings  with- 
out' '  which  trouble  us.  There  are  also 
"the  fears  within."  Many  of  our  vener- 
able assumptions  are  lying  in  ruin.  Our 
spiritual  world  has  suffered  an  upheaval 
as  though  with  the  convulsion  of  an  earth- 
quake, and  many  of  us  are  trembling  and 


WATCH  YE!  149 

confused.  What  then  shall  we  do  in  this 
terrible  hour?  What  path  shall  we  take! 
Can  we  settle  our  goings  upon  any  prom- 
ising road  of  purpose  and  endeavour? 
Along  what  lines  shall  we  pull  ourselves 
together?  And  in  answer  to  all  these  ques- 
tions I  bring  you  this  well-tried  counsel 
of  the  great  Christian  apostle,  this  bugle- 
peal  from  the  first  century,  and  I  ask  you 
to  let  it  be  to  you  as  the  inspired  word  of 
the  living  God.  "  Watch  ye,  stand  fast 
in  the  faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong.' ' 
Let  us  examine  the  counsel  in  order  that 
we  may  buckle  it  on  to  our  souls. 

Here  then  is  the  first  note  of  this  sol- 
dierly blast.  " Watch  ye!"  The  phrase 
literally  means  "keep  awake!"  You  per- 
haps think  there  is  no  need  of  that  counsel 
to-day.  You  probably  think  that  in  times 
like  these  our  difficulty  is  not  to  keep 
awake  but  to  go  to  sleep.  I  am  not  so 
sure  about  that.  If  we  have  loved  ones 
at  the  war  there  will  not  be  the  remotest 
peril  of  our  going  to  sleep.  Every  post 
that  comes  to  our  door  will  startle  us  like 
the  crack  of  doom.  Every  headline  in  the 
daily  press  will  tighten  our  nerves  in 
sleepless  attention.    But  when  we  have  no 


150    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

flesh  and  blood  at  the  front,  when  many 
miles  roll  between  ns  and  the  fields  of  war, 
when  we  are  only  spectators,  a  certain 
drowsiness  is  not  so  far  away  as  we 
may  suppose.  When  we  only  read  about 
things,  things  become  familiar,  and  the 
familiar  is  apt  to  lose  its  terror.  Custom 
is  a  dull  narcotic,  and  frequent  repe- 
tition dims  our  apprehension.  When  the 
Titanic  went  down  the  whole  city  spoke  in 
whispers,  such  a  dread  was  resting  over 
our  souls.  But  now  a  dreadnought  goes 
down,  or  a  half  dozen  cruisers,  and  we 
scarcely  catch  our  breath  at  the  news.  The 
cushion  of  familiarity  is  thickening  be- 
tween us  and  realities,  and  awful  facts 
do  not  hit  us  on  the  raw.  The  awful  be- 
comes less  awful  by  repetition,  and  we 
grow  less  sensitive  as  the  tragedies  in- 
crease. The  newspaper  statistics  cease  to 
be  significant,  and  the  descriptive  adjec- 
tives become  the  tamest  blanks.  And 
therefore  there  is  need  for  the  apostle's 
trumpet  blast  to  sound  in  our  ears. 
"Keep  awake !"  Do  not  let  familiarity 
become  an  opiate,  so  putting  the  senses  to 
sleep  that  the  direst  woes  become  a  pain- 
less commonplace.    '  *  Keep  awake ! ' '  Make 


WATCH  YE!  151 

it  a  matter  of  will.  Bring  the  stream  of 
vital  thought  to  bear  upon  the  field.  Exer- 
cise the  imagination.  Nourish  the  sym- 
pathies. We  must  keep  awake,  for  our 
primary  hope  of  emancipation  in  this  dark 
hour  is  to  remain  sensitive,  to  be  capable 
of  being  shocked  and  wounded  with  the 
appalling  blows  of  every  succeeding 
day. 

But  it  is  not  only  wakefulness,  but  also 
watchfulness  which  the  apostle  enjoins  in 
the  counsel  of  our  text.  The  soldier  of 
Jesus  is  to  be  awake  and  watchful  with  all 
the  keen  quest  of  a  sentinel  peering  about 
him  night  and  day.  But  our  watchfulness 
must  be  intelligent  and  disciplined,  and 
we  must  carefully  survey  the  entire  field. 
We  must  keep  awake,  and  we  must  dili- 
gently watch  for  all  enemies  of  the  sanc- 
tified brotherhood  of  the  race,  as  a  sentry 
would  watch  every  suspicious  movement 
in  the  night.  What  are  the  real  enemies 
behind  all  the  appalling  desolation  and 
sorrow  of  our  time?  Is  it  militarism? 
Then  i 'Watch  ye ! ' '  Is  it  something  deeper 
than  militarism?  Is  it  racial  animosity 
and  jealousy  and  prejudice?  Then  "  Watch 
ye!"     Is  it  something  even  deeper  than 


152    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

racial  antipathy?  Is  it  a  profound  and 
deadly  materialism  in  all  the  nations — a 
materialism  which  has  been  tricked  out  in 
the  ribbons  of  culture,  and  disguised  in 
the  glamour  of  progress?  Then  "Keep 
awake,  Watch  ye!"  Or  is  it  a  faithless 
church,  muttering  many  shibboleths,  but 
confessing  no  vital  faith;  a  church  which 
has  been  too  much  a  pretense,  offering  no 
strong  moral  and  spiritual  preservatives, 
and  supplying  no  saving  salt  to  social  fel- 
lowships, and,  therefore,  not  exercising 
any  restraint  upon  moral  degeneracy  and 
corruption?  "Keep  awake,  and  Watch 
ye ! ' '  And  amid  all  the  horrors  and  agonies 
of  our  day  fasten  your  eyes  upon  the  real 
enemy  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  outstanding 
antagonist  of  His  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness and  truth. 

But  there  is  a  further  word  to  say  about 
our  vigilance.  We  must  keep  awake  and 
watchful,  not  only  to  detect  the  busy  lurk- 
ing, ambushed  foes,  but  also  to  see  all  the 
bright  and  wonderful  things  of  the  hour, 
all  the  splendid  happenings  which  are 
favourable  to  the  holy  will  and  Kingdom 
of  our  Lord.  What  should  we  think  of  a 
sentinel  who  could  not  distinguish  between 


WATCH  YE!  153 

enemy  and  friend?  And  what  shall  we  say 
of  a  soldier-sentinel  of  Christ  who  has  no 
eye  for  the  great  and  friendly  happenings 
on  the  field?  Watch  ye,  and  behold  the 
growing  seriousness  of  the  world ;  frivolity 
has  almost  begun  to  apologize  for  itself, 
and  tinselled  gaiety  is  ill  at  ease.  Watch 
ye,  and  behold  the  unsealing  of  multidudi- 
nous  springs  of  human  sympathy,  and  the 
flowing  of  holy  currents  from  the  ends  of 
the  earth.  Watch  ye,  and  behold  the  mag- 
nificent courage  which  in  every  land  of 
strife  is  purging  families  from  the  dross 
of  indolence  and  indifference,  and  educing 
the  gold  of  chivalry  and  sacrifice.  Watch 
ye,  and  behold  the  marvellous  re-equip- 
ment of  Christian  motive — thousands  upon 
thousands  of  Christian  disciples  realizing 
as  they  have  never  done  before  that  the 
world  needs  the  vital  redeeming  grace  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  that  without  Him 
human  brotherhood  will  remain  a  phantom 
and  a  dream.  A  real  wakeful  watchman 
will  see  these  things.  He  will  not  only 
record  the  things  of  the  night  and  the 
nightmares,  but  he  will  be  as  "they  who 
watch  for  the  morning."  The  Moslem 
priest  appears  on  the  tower  of  his  mosque 


154    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

half  an  hour  after  sunset  to  call  the  people 
to  prayer,  but  he  also  appears  on  the  tower 
half  an  hour  before  sunrise,  when  the  grey 
gleams  of  morning  are  faintly  falling  upon 
the  night.  And  we  too,  watchmen  of  Jesus, 
must  watch  for  the  sunrise  as  well  as  for 
the  sunsets,  and  we  too  must  tell  what  fair 
jewels  of  hope  we  see  shining  on  the  dark 
robe  of  the  night.  Brethren,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  abroad!  " Watch  ye,  for 
at  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not,  the  Son 
of  Man  will  come." 

Now  let  us  consider  the  second  note  of 
the  counsel  which  is  given  by  this  warrior, 
Paul.  " Stand  fast  in  the  faith."  Just 
try  to  realize  that  bracing  counsel  coming 
to  these  young  recruits  in  the  city  of  Cor- 
inth. Let  me  try  to  paraphrase  it  as  I 
think  it  would  be  interpreted  to  them. 
"When  the  soft,  enervating  air  of  Cor- 
inth's luxuriousness  steals  over  you  like 
the  mild  air  of  Lotus-Land,  l '  Stand  fast  in 
the  faith"!  When  the  cold  wind  of  perse- 
cution assails  you  like  an  icy  blast  from 
the  north,  '  Stand  fast  in  the  faith' I  If 
some  supercilious  philosopher  comes  along 
and  breathes  cynically  upon  your  new- 
found piety  and  devotion,  '  Stand  fast  in 


WATCH  YE!  155 

the  faith' !    Stand  fast  in  your  faith  and 
meet  all  your  antagonisms  there." 

And  has  that  counsel  no  pertinency  for 
the  Christian  believers  of  our  own  time? 
There  are  some  among  us  who  are  ready, 
because  of  the  unspeakable  horrors 
through  which  we  are  passing,  to  throw 
their  faith  away  like  obsolete  arms  and 
armour.  Now  men  who  can  drop  their 
faith  in  the  day  of  real  emergency  have 
never  been  really  held  by  it.  That  is 
surely  true;  men  who  can  drop  their  faith 
like  a  handkerchief  have  never  known  their 
faith  as  a  strong  and  vital  defence.  And 
yet  that  is  what  you  sometimes  find  them 
doing  in  modern  novels.  They  just  drop 
their  faith  as  they  would  drop  a  pair  of 
gloves:  Eobert  Elsmere,  in  Mrs.  Humph- 
ry Ward's  story  of  twenty  years  ago, 
dropped  his  faith  in  about  ten  days.  If 
my  memory  serves  me  truly,  George  Eliot 
dropped  her  faith  in  about  the  same  length 
of  time.  If  our  faith  has  ever  meant  any- 
thing vital,  it  will  be  as  difficult  to  drop 
it  as  to  drop  our  skin.  But  it  is  the  in- 
experienced who  are  in  peril.  It  is  the 
young  recruit  who  is  dangerously  con- 
vulsed by  the  upheavals  of  our  day,  and 


156    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

it  is  to  him  I  bring  the  nerving  counsel 
of  the  Lord:  " Stand  fast  in  the  faith !" 

' '  Stand  fast  in  the  faith !  > '  What  faith  ? 
"The  faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the 
saints.' '  Stand  fast  in  the  faith  of  the 
atoning  Saviour  as  the  secret  of  the  rec- 
onciliation of  mankind.  •  Stand  fast  in 
the  faith  of  the  risen  Lord  as  the  secret 
and  promise  of  racial  union  and  brother- 
hood. Stand  fast  in  the  faith  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  the  source  of  all  the  light  and 
cheer  which  illumines  the  race.  Stand  fast 
in  your  own  personal  faith  in  the  exalted 
Lord.  Don't  doubt  Him!  Don't  suspect 
Him!  Don't  desert  Him!  Above  all, 
don't  sell  Him!  In  this  hour  of  darkness, 
when  devilry  seems  to  be  pulling  down  the 
very  pillars  of  the  temple,  stand  fast  in 
the  faith,  and  let  this  be  your  strong  but 
humble  cry: 

"Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom, 
Neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines ; 
The  labour  of  the  olive  shall  fail, 
And  the  fields  shall  yield  no  meat ; 
The  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  fold, 
And  there  shall  be  no  herd  in  the  stalls : 
Yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord, 
I  will  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation." 


WATCH  YE!  157 

And  the  third  note  in  the  great  apostle's 
counsel  in  this:  "Quit  you  like  men." 
Our  translators  have  taken  four  words  to 
express  a  single  word  in  the  original  letter. 
We  have  no  one  English  word  which  can 
carry  the  splendid  load  of  meaning:  It 
really  means — play  the  man!  It  really 
means — no  funk!  All  the  school  children 
will  know  the  value  of  that  word.  It 
is  a  good  strong  vital  English  word,  and 
I  am  sure  it  expresses  the  spirit  of  the 
apostle's  counsel  to  these  young  recruits. 
Lowell  uses  it  in  the  Bigelow  Papers :  "To 
funk  right  out  o'  p'litical  strife  ain't 
thought  to  be  the  thing:"  No  funk,  sol- 
diers of  Christ!  I  have  sometimes  heard 
men  talk  of  late  as  though  the  Lord  were 
dead,  and  the  game  is  up,  and  the  King- 
dom is  in  ruins.  "Play  the  man!"  The 
European  soldiers  of  every  nation  are 
showing  the  world  in  their  own  sphere 
what  it  means  to  play  the  man.  Some  of 
us  are  becoming  almost  afraid  to  call  our- 
selves soldiers  of  Jesus  when  we  see  what 
a  true  soldier  really  is.  Think  of  it! 
Think  of  his  readiness  for  the  front! 
Think  of  his  laughter  in  sacrifice !  Think 
of  his  song  in  the  midst  of  danger  and 


158    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

pain!  Think  of  his  endurance  even  unto 
death!  And  then,  think  how  we  stand  up 
and  sing  "  Onward,  Christian  soldiers, 
marching  as  to  war"!  And  shall  we  funk 
in  the  day  of  darkness  and  disaster,  and 
after  months  of  appalling  bloodshed 
and  woe  shall  we  talk  as  if  the  campaign 
of  righteousness  were  ended,  and  the 
Kingdom  of  Jesus  is  overturned!  Let  us 
stop  this  kind  of  talk.  Let  us  silence  this 
sort  of  fear.  Let  us  crush  this  type  of 
disloyalty.  It  is  an  insult  to  our  flag; 
it  is  a  dishonour  to  our  Lord. 

"Quit  you  like  men,  be  strong!"  Put 
strength  into  everything,  and  do  every- 
thing strongly.  Do  not  let  us  speak  or 
serve  in  a  faint,  lax,  irresolute,  anaemic, 
dying  sort  of  way.  "Be  strong!"  Be 
strong  in  your  prayers:  Be  strong  in  your 
moral  and  spiritual  ambitions.  Be  strong 
in  your  visions  and  hopes.  Be  strong  in 
your  beneficence;  strengthen  it  to  the 
vigour  of  sacrifice.  And  if  there  be  a 
devil,  as  more  than  ever  I  believe  there 
is,  let  the  Church  surprise  him  by  her 
strength.  Let  her  turn  the  clay  of  calamity 
into  the  day  of  opportunity.  Let  her 
transfigure  the  hour  of  disaster  into  the 


WATCH  YE!  159 

hour  of  deeper  consecration.  Let  us  make 
new  vows.  Let  us  enter  into  new  devotion. 
Let  us  exercise  ourselves  in  new  chivalry. 
Let  us  go  out  in  new  ways  of  sacrifice. 
My  brethren,  God  is  not  dead!  " Watch 
ye,  stand  fast  in  the  faith,  quit  you  like 
men,  be  strong  !" 

u Stand  up,  stand  up  for  Jesus! 
The  trumpet  call  obey; 
Forth  to  the  mighty  conflict 

In  this  His  glorious  day. 
Ye  that  are  men  now  serve  Him 

Against  unnumbered  foes, 
Let  courage  rise  with  danger 
And  strength  to  strength  oppose. 


'Stand  up,  stand  up  for  Jesus! 

Ye  soldiers  of  the  Cross. 
Lift  high  His  royal  banner, 

It  must  not  suffer  loss. 
From  victory  unto  victory 

His  army  shall  He  lead, 
Till  every  foe  is  vanquished, 

And  Christ  is  Lord  indeed!" 


X 

ENDURING  HARD- 
NESS 


HEAVENLY  FATHER,  May  all  our  hearts  be  filled 
with  Thy  praise.  May  the  spirit  of  Thanksgiving  fill  all  our 
days,  and  deliver  us  from  the  mood  of  murmuring  and  com- 
plaint. Graciously  remove  the  scales  from  our  eyes,  so  that 
we  may  look  upon  our  life  with  eyes  anointed  with  the  eye- 
salve  of  grace.  Help  us  to  discern  Thy  footprints  in  the 
ordinary  road.  Grant  that  we  may  now  review  our  yesterdays 
and  see  the  providences  which  have  crowded  our  paths.  Help 
us  to  see  Thy  name  on  blessings  that  we  never  recognized,  so 
that  we  may  now  be  praiseful  where  we  have  been  indifferent. 
Redeem  us  from  our  spiritual  sloth.  Awake  us  out  of  our 
perilous  sleep.  May  our  consciences  goad  us  when  we  are  in 
peril.  May  the  good  desires  within  us  be  so  strengthened  as 
to  destroy  every  desire  that  is  vain.  Sow  in  our  hearts  the  word 
of  Thy  truth.  Guard  the  seed  with  the  vigilance  of  Thy  blessed 
Spirit,  and  let  it  appear  in  our  life  as  a  fragrant  and  bounti- 
ful harvest.  Graciously  watch  us  and  defend  us  and  make 
us  mighty  in  consecration,  and  may  we  place  our  all  upon 
the  altar.    Amen. 


X 

ENDURING  HARDNESS 

"Thou  therefore  endure  hard- 
ness as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ."     2  Timothy  2 :  3. 

ANY  military  metaphor  which  is  used 
to-day  will  surely  have  a  very 
arresting  significance.  Many  of 
our  hymns  are  crowded  with  military  ter- 
minology. In  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Hymn-Book  there  is  a  whole  section  en- 
titled "For  Believers  Fighting."  We 
are  all  familiar  with  these  martial  hymns : 
"Onward,  Christian  Soldiers",  "The  Son 
of  God  goes  forth  to  war",  "Soldiers  of 
Christ  arise",  "Stand  up,  stand  up,  for 
Jesus,  ye  soldiers  of  the  cross",  "Oft  in 
danger,  oft  in  woe,  onward  Christians, 
onward  go."  But  too  often  the  soldier- 
like hymn  is  only  a  bit  of  martial  poetry 
which  pleases  the  emotions  but  does  not 
stir  the  will.     We  like  the  swing  of  the 

163 


164    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

theme.  It  brings  a  sort  of  exhilaration 
into  our  moods,  just  as  lively  dance  music 
awakes  a  nimble  restlessness  in  our  feet. 
Too  often  it  is  the  song  of  the  parade 
ground,  and  it  is  not  broken  with  the 
awful  thundering  of  the  guns  in  actual 
war.  But  just  now  when  we  hear  the 
phrase,  "Endure  hardness  as  a  good  sol- 
dier,'J  our  thoughts  are  carried  away  to 
the  battlefields  of  Europe:  We  recall  those 
roads  like  deeply  ploughed  fields!  Those 
fields  scooped  by  the  shells  into  graves  in 
which  you  can  bury  a  score  of  men !  Those 
trenches  filling  with  the  rain  or  snows,  the 
hiding  place  of  disease,  and  assailed  con- 
tinually with  the  most  frightful  engines 
of  destruction!  Pestilence  on  the  prowl! 
Frost  stiffening  the  limbs  into  benumb- 
ment!  Death  always  possible  before  the 
next  breath !  These  military  metaphors  in 
our  hymns  get  some  red  blood  into  them 
when  we  use  them  against  backgrounds 
and  scenes  like  these.  "Endure  hardness 
as  a  good  soldier." 

Now  the  apostle  calls  for  this  soldierly 
spirit  in  Thessalonica.  He  is  writing  to 
young  recruits  in  the  army  of  the  Lord. 
They  are  having  their  first  baptism  of  fire. 


ENDURING  HARDNESS  165 

Their  enemies  are  strong,  subtle,  ubiqui- 
tous. To  be  a  Christian  in  Thessalonica 
was  to  face  the  fierce  onslaught  of  over- 
whelming odds.  But  indeed  in  those  early 
days,  Christian  believers,  wherever  they 
lived,  had  to  be  heroic  in  the  defence  of 
their  faith  and  obedience.  Everywhere 
circumstances  were  hostile.  Nothing  was 
won  without  sacrifice.  Nothing  was  held 
without  blood:  To  be  a  witness  was  to  be 
a  martyr.  If  a  believer  would  be  faithful 
to  his  Lord  he  must  "  fight  the  good  fight 
of  faith";  if  he  would  extend  the  frontiers 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  he  must  endure 
hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

What  are  the  circumstances  amid  which 
the  modern  Church  is  placed!  The  Chris- 
tian believer  in  our  day  is  confronted  with 
stupendous  difficulties.  Look  at  the  pres- 
ent field  on  which  our  Christian  warfare 
is  to  be  waged.  When  the  European  war 
broke  out  I  was  staying  at  a  quiet  seaside 
village,  from  which  I  could  see  the  soft 
green  beauty  of  the  mountains  which  en- 
circle the  English  lakes.  On  the  morning 
that  war  was  proclaimed  I  felt  as  though 
some  venerable  and  majestic  temple  had 


166    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

suddenly  crumbled  into  dust.  One  of  my 
most  intimate  friends,  a  noble  German, 
was  staying  in  my  home,  and  we  both  felt 
as  though  some  devil  of  mischief  and  dis- 
aster had  toppled  human  affairs  into  con- 
fusion. The  quiet  sequence  of  human 
progress  seemed  to  have  been  smashed  at 
a  stroke.  The  nations  drew  apart,  and 
gulfs  of  isolation  yawned  between  them, 
and  down  the  gulfs  there  swept  the  cruel 
shrieking  blasts  of  racial  hatred  and  an- 
tipathy. Holy  ministries  which  had  been 
leagued  in  sacred  fellowship  were 
wrenched  asunder.  Spiritual  communions 
which  had  been  sweet  and  welcome  curdled 
in  the  biting  blast  of  resentment.  The 
work  of  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord  was 
smitten  as  by  an  enemy;  ploughshares 
were  beaten  into  swords;  pruning-hooks 
were  transformed  into  spears ;  and  instead 
of  the  fir  and  the  myrtle-tree  there  sprang 
up  the  thorns  and  the  briars.  And  then, 
to  crown  our  difficulties,  the  red  fury  of 
war  leaped  into  countries  where  our  mis- 
sionaries are  proclaiming  the  gospel  of 
peace,  and  the  passion  of  battle  began  to 
burn  where  they  are  telling  the  story  of 
the  passion  of  Calvary,  that  holy  passion 


ENDURING  HARDNESS  167 

of  sacrifice  which  brought  to  the  whole 
world  redemption  from  sin,  and  reconcilia- 
tion with  God,  and  the  promise  of  the  life 
that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come. 

Our  immediate  circumstances  do  not 
offer  the  soldiers  of  Jesus  an  easy  parade 
ground  where  we  can  just  loll  and  sing 
our  lilting  songs;  they  rather  offer  us  a 
fearfully  rugged  and  broken  field  which 
demands  as  heroic  and  chivalrous  virtues 
as  ever  clothed  a  child  of  God.  What 
shall  we  do?  Is  it  the  hour  for  craven 
fear  or  for  a  noble  courage?  What  shall 
we  do  on  our  mission  fields?  Shall  we 
cry  "forward,"  or  shall  we  sound  the  de- 
pressing and  despairing  note  of  retreat? 
Shall  we  throw  up  the  sponge,  or  shall  we, 
in  the  spirit  of  unprecedented  sacrifice, 
march  forward  in  our  campaign,  and  en- 
dure hardness  as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus 
Christ? 

First  of  all,  we  must  keep  our  eyes 
steadily  fixed  upon  the  object  for  which 
Christ  died,  that  solemn  and  holy  end  for 
which  He  created  and  appointed  His  own 
Church.  And  what  is  that  object?  It  is 
to  let  "all  men  know  that  all  men  move 
under  a  canopy  of  love"  as  broad  as  the 


168    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

blue  sky  above.  It  is  to  break  down  all 
middle  walls  of  partition,  and  to  merge 
the  sundered  peoples  in  the  quickening 
communion  of  His  grace.  It  is  to  unite  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world  in  the  one  and 
radiant  Kingdom  of  His  love.  That  is  the 
aim  and  purpose  of  our  blessed  Lord,  and 
in  all  the  shock  and  convulsions  of  to-day 
we  must  keep  that  object  steadfastly  in 
sight.  It  was  said  of  Napoleon  that  "he 
never  for  a  moment  lost  sight  of  his  way 
onward  in  the  dazzle  and  uproar  of  present 
circumstances. ' '  That  is  to  say,  Napoleon 
was  never  blinded  by  the  glare  of  victory 
or  by  the  lowering  cloud  of  defeat:  "He 
saw  only  the  object.' '  Quietness  did  not 
throw  its  perilous  spell  about  him.  Ca- 
lamity did  not  turn  his  eyes  from  the  for- 
ward way.  He  saw  only  the  object,  and 
the  glory  of  the  goal  sent  streams  of 
energy  into  his  will  and  into  his  feet  at 
every  step  of  the  changing  road. 

Now  our  temptation  is  to  permit  events 
to  determine  our  sight.  There  is  the  shim- 
mer of  gold  on  the  right  hand,  and  we 
turn  to  covet.  There  is  the  gleam  of  the 
sword  on  the  left  hand,  and  we  turn  in 
fear.    We  allow  circumstances  to  govern 


ENDURING  HARDNESS  169 

our  aims.  Our  eyes  are  deflected  from 
their  object  by  the  dazzle  or  the  uproar 
around  us.  And  here  is  the  peril  of  it  all. 
When  we  lose  the  object  of  our  warfare 
we  begin  to  lose  the  campaign.  And, 
therefore,  one  of  the  first  necessities  of 
the  Christian  Church  in  the  present  hour 
is  to  have  our  Lord's  own  purpose  steadily 
in  view,  to  keep  her  eyes  glued  upon  that 
supreme  end,  and  to  allow  nothing  to  turn 
her  aside.  '  '  Let  thine  eyes  look  right  on ; ' ' 
i  l  Thy  kingdom  come ; ' '  * '  The  kingdoms  of 
this  world  shall  become  the  Kingdom  of 
our  God;"  "He  must  reign  until  He  hath 
put  all  enemies  under  His  feet."  This,  I 
say,  is  the  pressing  and  immediate  need  of 
the  good  soldier  of  Christ  Jesus,  to  refuse 
to  have  his  single  aim  complicated  by  the 
entanglement  of  passing  circumstances, 
and  to  constantly  "apprehend  that  for 
which  we  also  were  apprehended  by  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord." 

What  else  shall  we  do  in  this  hour  of 
upheaval  and  disaster?  The  Church  must 
eclipse  the  exploits  of  carnal  warfare  by 
the  more  glorious  warfare  of  the  spirit. 
Just  recall  the  heroisms  which  are  happen- 
ing every  day  in  Europe,  and  on  which 


170    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

the  eyes  of  the  world  are  riveted  with  an 
almost  mesmerized  wonder!  Think  of  the 
magnificent  sacrifices !  Think  of  the  splen- 
did courage !  Think  of  the  exquisite  chiv- 
alry! Think  of  the  incredible  powers  of 
endurance!  And  then,  further,  think  that 
the  Church  of  Christ  is  called  upon  to  out- 
shine these  glories  with  demonstrations 
more  glorious  still. 

This  was  surely  one  of  the  outstanding 
distinctions  of  apostolic  life.  Whenever 
hostilities  confronted  the  early  Church, 
whenever  the  first  disciples  were  opposed 
by  the  gathered  forces  of  the  world,  wher- 
ever the  sword  was  bared  and  active,  wher- 
ever tyranny  exulted  in  sheer  brutality, 
these  early  disciples  unveiled  a  more 
splendid  strength,  and  threw  the  carnal 
power  into  the  shade.  They  faced  their 
difficulties  with  such  force  and  splendour 
of  character  that  their  very  antagonisms 
became  only  the  dark  background  on  which 
the  glory  of  the  Lord  was  more  manifestly 
revealed.  Their  courage  rose  with  danger 
and  eclipsed  it! 

Let  me  open  one  or  two  windows  in  the 
apostolic  record  which  give  us  glimpses  of 
this    conquering   life.     Here,   then,    is    a 


ENDURING  HARDNESS  171 

glimpse  of  the  hostilities:  "Let  us 
straightly  threaten  them  that  they  speak 
henceforth  to  no  man  in  this  name. ' '  There 
you  have  the  naked  tyranny  of  carnal 
power,  and  there  you  have  the  threat  that 
burns  through  carnal  speech.  And  now, 
over  against  that  power  put  the  action  of 
the  Church :  ' '  And  they  spake  the  word  of 
God  with  boldness ! ' '  They  were  good  sol- 
diers of  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  that  bold- 
ness the  tyranny  and  threat  of  carnal 
power  were  completely  eclipsed. 

Here  is  another  glimpse  of  those  heroic 
days:  "And  when  they  had  called  the 
apostles,  and  beaten  them,  they  commanded 
that  they  should  not  speak  in  the  name  of 
Jesus. ' '  There  again  you  have  the  demon- 
stration of  carnal  power;  and  here  again 
is  the  demonstration  of  the  power  of  the 
spirit:  "And  they  departed  from  the 
presence  of  the  counsel,  rejoicing  that  they 
were  counted  worthy  to  suffer  shame  for 
his  name.  And  they  ceased  not  to  teach 
and  preach  Jesus  Christ."  I  say  that  this 
" rejoicing' '  eclipses  that  beating,  and  the 
good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ  puts  the 
Roman  soldier  into  the  shade. 

Let  me  open  another  window:    "And 


172    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

they  cast  Stephen  out  of  the  city  and 
stoned  him."  Get  your  eyes  on  that  dis- 
play of  carnal  passion  and  tyranny;  and 
then  lift  your  eyes  upon  the  victim  of  it: 
"And  he  kneeled  down  and  cried  with  a 
loud  voice,  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their 
charge."  Who  is  the  conqueror  in  that 
tragedy,  the  stoners  or  the  stoned,  the 
ministers  of  destruction  or  the  good  soldier 
of  Jesus  Christ?  The  carnal  power  was 
terrific  and  deadly,  but  it  was  utterly 
eclipsed  by  the  power  of  grace,  the  power 
which  blazed  forth  in  this  redeemed  and 
consecrated  life.  Open  yet  another  win- 
dow upon  this  day  of  shining  exploits: 
"Having  stoned  Paul  they  drew  him 
out  of  the  city,  supposing  he  had  been 
dead'."  That  incident  seems  to  record  the 
coronation  and  sovereignty  of  brutal 
strength.  Now  read:  "And  they  returned 
again  to  Lystra."  Paul  went  back  to  the 
place  where  he  had  been  stoned,  to  tell 
again  the  good  news  of  grace,  and  to  carry 
to  broken  people  the  ministries  of  heal- 
ing. And  I  say  that  this  bruised  man, 
beaten  and  sore,  returning  again  to  the 
scene  of  the  stoning,  is  a  good  soldier  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  by  his  magnificent  cour- 


ENDURING  HARDNESS  178 

age  and  grace  he  eclipsed  all  the  rough 
strength  of  the  world  and  threw  its 
achievements  into  the  shade. 

But  it  is  not  only  in  apostolic  days  that 
you  can  find  these  brilliant  contrasts.  The 
Church  has  been  distinguished  by  such 
demonstrations  of  spiritual  glory  all  along 
her  history.  When  material  power  has 
been  riotous  and  rampant,  when  rude, 
crude  passions  have  blazed  through  the 
earth,  the  chivalry  of  the  Church  has  shone 
resplendent  in  the  murky  night,  and  she 
has  eclipsed  the  dread  shocks  of  the  world 
and  the  flesh  and  the  devil  by  her  noble 
sacrifices,  and  by  her  serenity,  and  by  her 
spontaneous  joy.  The  Church  has  distin- 
guished herself  by  her  manifestations  of 
spiritual  strength,  by  her  lofty  Christian 
purpose,  by  her  glowing  devotional  enthu- 
siasm, and  this  over  against  gigantic  ob- 
stacles, and  in  the  face  of  enemies  who 
seemed  to  be  overwhelming. 

I  think  of  James  Chalmers,  the  martyred 
missionary  of  New  Guinea.  How  well  I 
remember  the  last  time  I  met  him ;  his  big, 
powerful  body,  his  lion-like  head,  his  shock 
of  rough  hair,  his  face  with  such  a  strange 
commingling  of  strength  and  gentleness, 


174    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

indomitableness  and  grace!  And  what 
he  went  through  in  New  Guinea  in  carry- 
ing to  the  natives  the  story  of  our 
Saviour's  love!  And  then,  having  gone 
through  it  all,  he  stood  up  there  in  Eng- 
land, on  the  platform  of  Exeter  Hall,  and 
said:  "Recall  these  twenty-one  years,  give 
me  back  all  its  experiences,  give  me  its 
shipwrecks,  give  me  its  standings  in  the 
face  of  death,  give  it  me  surrounded  with 
savages  with  spears  and  clubs,  give  it  me 
back  again  with  spears  flying  about  me, 
with  the  club  knocking  me  to  the  ground, 
give  it  me  back,  and  I  will  still  be  your 
missionary."  What  is  happening  in  Eu- 
rope just  now  that  can  put  that  exploit 
in  the  shade?  I  do  not  wonder  that  when 
that  man  thought  of  heaven  he  used  these 
words:  " There  will  be  much  visiting  in 
heaven,  and  much  work.  I  guess  I  shall 
have  good  mission  work  to  do,  great,  brave 
work  for  Christ.  He  will  have  to  find 
it,  for  I  can  be  nothing  else  than  a  mis- 
sionary.''  James  Chalmers  went  back  to 
New  Guinea  to  tell  and  retell  to  the 
natives  why  Jesus  came  to  thee  and 
me  and  all  men,  and  he  won  the  martyr's 
crown.     The   love   of  Christ  constrained 


ENDURING  HARDNESS  175 

him.  And  again  I  ask,  what  incidents  in 
carnal  warfare  are  not  eclipsed  by  shining 
heroisms  like  these? 

I  might  go  on  telling  you  these  glorious 
exploits  of  grace,  but  I  hasten  to  say  that 
it  is  our  privilege  to  continue  the  story. 
To-day  carnal  strength  is  stalking  in 
deadly  stride  through  a  whole  continent. 
And  to-day  the  Church  must  do  some- 
thing so  splendid  and  so  heroic  as  will  out- 
shine the  glamour  of  material  war.  This  is 
the  hour  when  we  must  send  out  more  men 
and  women  who  are  willing  to  live  and  toil 
and  die  for  the  Hindu,  and  for  the  Turk, 
and  the  Persian,  and  the  Chinese  and  the 
Japanese,  and  all  the  dusky  sons  of  Africa. 
I  verily  believe  that  if  the  apostle  Paul 
were  in  our  midst  to-day,  with  the  war  rag- 
ing in  Europe,  he  would  sound  an  advance 
all  along  the  line".  He  would  call  us  in  this 
hour  to  send  out  more  men  and  women  to 
save,  and  to  comfort,  and  to  heal ;  men  and 
women  who  will  lay  down  their  lives  in 
bringing  life  to  their  fellow-men.  We  must 
send  forth  new  army  corps  of  the  soldiers 
of  Christ,  and  we  must  give  them  morr 
abundant  means,  endowing  them  so  plenti- 
fully that  they  can  go  out  into  the  needy 


176    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

places  of  Asia  and  Africa,  and  assuage  the 
pains  and  burdens  of  the  body,  and  dispel 
the  darkness  of  the  mind,  and  give  liberty 
to  the  imprisoned  spirit,  and  lead  the  souls 
of  men  into  the  life  and  joy  and  peace  of 
our  blessed  Lord.  If  the  Church  would, 
and  if  the  Church  will,  she  can  so  arrest 
the  attention  and  win  the  hearts  of  the 
natives  of  Africa  and  Asia  with  the  grace 
and  gentleness  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  a  grace 
and  gentleness  made  incarnate  again  in 
you  and  me,  and  in  those  whom  we  send 
to  the  field,  that  the  excellent  glory  of  the 
Spirit  shall  shine  pre-eminent,  and  in  thia 
hour  of  world-wide  disaster  the  risen  Lord 
shall  again  be  glorified. 

Shall  we  quietly  challenge  ourselves 
amid  all  the  awful  happenings  of  to-day  f 
Here  are  the  terms  of  the  challenge. 
Shall  the  good  soldier  of  Christ  Jesus  be 
overshadowed  by  the  soldiers  of  the  world? 
Or  shall  the  courage  and  ingenuities  of  the 
world  be  eclipsed  by  the  heroism  and  the 
wise  audacity  of  the  Church?  Shall  we 
withdraw  our  army  from  the  field  because 
the  war  is  raging  in  Europe,  or  shall  we 
send  it  reinforcements  ?  Shall  we  practice 
a  more  severe  economy  and  straiten  our 


ENDURING  HARDNESS  177 

army's  equipment  for  service;  or  shall  we 
practice  a  more  glorious  self-sacrifice,  and 
make  its  equipment  more  efficient?  Shall 
we  exalt  and  glorify  our  Saviour,  or  shall 
we  allow  Him  to  be  put  in  the  shade? 
Shall  we  endure  hardness,  as  good  sol- 
diers of  Christ,  or  shall  we  take  to  the 
fields  of  indulgence,  and  allow  the  Church 
of  the  Living  God  to  be  outshone  by  the 
army  of  the  world?    Which  shall  it  be? 

Our  holy  battlefield  is  as  wide  as  the 
world.  The  needs  are  clamant.  The  op- 
portunities of  victory  are  on  every  side. 
Our  Captain  is  calling!  What  then,  shall 
it  be?  Advance  or  retreat?  What  answer 
can  there  be  but  one?  Surely  the  answer 
must  be  that  we  will  advance,  even  though 
it  mean  the  shedding  of  the  blood  of  sac- 
rifice. 

One  of  our  medical  missionaries  was 
Dr.  Francis  J.  Hall  of  Peking,  China.  He 
had  been  graduated  with  high  honours  at 
the  Johns  Hopkins  Medical  School  in  Bal- 
timore, and  had  consecrated  his  life  to 
medical  missionary  work  in  China,  where 
his  large  abilities  promptly  won  him  wide 
influence.  In  1913  he  said  to  one  of  his 
associates:    "I  have  just  been  called  to 


178    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

a-  Chinese  who  has  typhus  fever.  Many 
physicians  have  died  of  that  disease,  but 
I  must  go."  Two  weeks  later  he  was 
stricken.  As  he  lay  dying  his  mind  wan- 
dered, and  he  was  heard  to  exclaim:  "I 
hear  them  calling,  I  must  go;  I  hear  them 
calling!"  Do  we  hear  them  calling?  Is 
the  answer  "Yes"!  Then  let  us  joyfully 
register  a  vow  that,  God  helping  us,  the 
army  of  the  Lord  shall  not  be  maimed  be- 
cause of  our  indifference,  but  as  good  sol- 
diers of  Jesus  Christ  we  will,  if  need  be, 
endure  hardness,  and  give  of  our  posses- 
sions, even  unto  the  shedding  of  our 
blood. 


XI 

THE    INVISIBLE 
COMMANDER 


ETERNAL  GOD,  we  rejoice  in  the  security  that  is  offered 
to  us  in  our  midnights  and  in  our  noons.  Thou  wilt  not  leave 
us  to  the  loneliness  of  self-communion,  but  Thou  wilt  hold  fellow- 
ship with  us  along  the  way.  Come  to  us  as  the  Lord  Jesus  came 
to  the  men  who  were  journeying  to  Emmaus,  and  make  our 
hearts  burn  within  us  in  the  revelation  of  light  and  grace. 
Especially  in  these  bewildering  times  wilt  Thou  steady  our 
minds  with  Thy  councils  and  inspire  our  hearts  in  the  assur- 
ance of  Thy  sovereign  love.  Lead  us  along  our  troubled  road. 
Let  the  heavenly  light  break  upon  our  darkness.  Help  us  to 
believe  in  Thy  peace  even  when  the  world  is  at  strife.  Let 
Thy  kingdom  come.  Even  when  the  world  is  filled  with  the 
smoke  of  battle  may  we  discern  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  Save 
us  from  the  sin  of  unbelief.  Reveal  to  us,  we  humbly  pray 
Thee,  the  sin  in  which  this  strife  has  been  born,  and  help  the 
nations  to  turn  from  it  in  new  consecration  to  Thee.  In  this 
gracious  purpose  wilt  Thou  possess  our  services.  Help  us  to 
look  beyond  the  seen  into  the  strength  and  glory  of  the  unseen. 
Cheer  us  with  Thy  consolations.  Uphold  us  with  Thine 
hand,  and  impart  to  us  the  gift  of  Thy  gracious  peace.    Amen, 


XI 


THE  INVISIBLE  COMMANDER  ON 
THE  FIELD 

"And  He  will  lift  up  an  ensign 
to  the  nations  from  far,  and  will 
hiss  unto  them  from  the  end  of 
the  earth."    Isaiah  5 :  26. 

"And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in 
that  day  that  the  Lord  shall  hiss 
for  the  fly  that  is  in  the  uttermost 
part  of  the  rivers  of  Egypt,  and 
for  the  bee  that  is  in  the  land  of 
Assyria."    Isaiah  7 :  18. 

THAT  was  a  startling  word  to  fall 
upon  the  ears  of  the  people  of 
Judah.  It  shocked  them  into  con- 
fusion. It  was  an  altogether  revolutionary 
word.  It  played  havoc  with  their  tra- 
ditional beliefs:  It  smashed  up  all  their 
easy  securities.  It  turned  their  world  up- 
side down,  and  all  their  ancient  confi- 
dences were  broken.  Let  us  try  to  feel  the 
shock  of  the  message.  The  people  had 
come  to  regard  their  land  as  a  sort  of 

181 


182    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

divine  reservation,  and  they  looked  upon 
their  nation  as  a  specially  favoured  instru- 
ment in  the  hand  of  the  Lord.  They  es- 
teemed themselves  as  being  in  the  friendly 
grip  and  fellowship  of  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
All  their  movements  were  the  inspirations 
of  His  counsels,  and  in  the  strength  of 
His  providence  their  nation's  progress  and 
destiny  were  assured.  They  lived  in  the  as- 
sumption that  every  step  in  their  national 
life  was  foreseen,  and  planned,  and  pro- 
vided for,  and  that  they  were  always  being 
led  towards  divinely  appointed  goals. 
There  was  nothing  of  chance  in  their 
journeyings,  and  nothing  of  uncertainty 
in  their  ends.  For  then  there  was  no 
blind  groping  in  the  darkness,  for  the 
Lord  of  hosts  had  charge  of  their  national 
life;  and  "the  sure  mercies  of  David" 
would  secure  it  from  calamity  and  destruc- 
tion. 

That  was  what  they  thought  about  them- 
selves. What  did  they  think  of  the  nations 
beyond  their  frontier?  That  was  quite 
another  story.  They  looked  upon  other 
nations  as  struggling  blindly,  and  in  their 
dark  rage  imagining  vain  things.  These 
other  nations  had  the  promptings  of  pas- 


INVISIBLE  COMMANDER  183 

sion,  but  they  had  no  divine  and  mystic 
leadership.  They  moved  hither  and 
thither,  but  it  was  under  no  divine  appoint- 
ment, and  a  thousand  traps  were  laid  for 
their  unhallowed  feet.  Yonder  was  As- 
syria, full  of  strength  and  full  of  move- 
ment, expressing  herself  in  the  might  of 
tremendous  armies,  but  she  was  under  no 
divine  command  or  inspiration.  Assyria 
was  like  a  boat  in  unknown  waters,  without 
a  pilot,  and  she  was  marked  for  inevitable 
destruction.  And  yonder  was  proud 
Egypt,  swelling  with  her  power  and  re- 
nown, colossal  in  her  material  achieve- 
ments, but  she  had  no  divinely  enlightened 
eyes,  she  was  blind  in  her  goings,  and  her 
marching  was  in  reality  a  staggering 
towards  doom.  And  yonder  were  other 
nations  from  afar;  but  they  were  all  just 
chance  masses,  looked  upon  as  existing  out- 
side the  frontier  line  of  divine  favour  and 
enlightenment.  They  dwelt  in  some  hinter- 
land of  life  where  God's  gracious  decrees 
do  not  run*.  They  were  beyond  the  orbit 
of  divine  thought  and  grace.  Now  that 
was  the  kind  of  thinking  which  the  prophet 
had  to  meet.  Judah  regarded  herself  as 
nestling  within  the  home  circle  of  Provi- 


184    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

dence,  and  all  other  nations  were  outcasts 
living  beyond  the  sacred  pale. 

And  now  perhaps  we  shall  be  able  to 
feel  something1  of  the  astounding  effect 
of  the  prophet's  words.  "And  the  Lord 
shall  lift  up  an  ensign  to  the  nations  from 
far."  Far-away  peoples  are  to  move 
under  the  impulse  and  inspiration  of  the 
Lord,  and  in  the  light  of  His  guiding  com- 
mand. "The  Lord  shall  hiss  for  the  fly 
that  is  in  the  uttermost  part  of  the  rivers 
of  Egypt."  A  far-away  nation,  thick  as 
flies,  is  to  move  under  the  touch  and  ordi- 
nation of  God!  "The  Lord  shall  hiss  for 
the  bee  that  is  in  the  land  of  Assyria." 
A  far-away  nation,  thick  as  a  hive  of  bees, 
is  to  move  under  the  controlling  purpose 
of  the  Lord!  Can  you  feel  the  shock  of 
the  prophet's  words?  It  is  the  shock  of 
a  larger  thought  which  shakes  the  nations 
out  of  their  small  and  cosey  contentment. 
They  had  conceived  the  divine  Providence 
as  being  confined  exclusively  to  Judah's 
particular  guidance  and  defence.  They  had 
thought  within  the  limits  of  a  country ;  they 
are  now  bidden  to  cross  the  frontier  and 
conceive  a  Providence  which  encircles  a 
continent  and  a  world.    The  fly  in  Egypt, 


INVISIBLE  COMMANDER  185 

and  the  bee  in  Assyria,  raising  their  wings 
at  the  touch  of  the  Lord, — it  staggered 
them  into  incredulity! 

Now  we  can  see  what  the  prophet  was 
doing.  He  was  seeking  to  enlarge  their 
sense  of  the  orbit  of  the  divine  movement. 
For  the  little  ripples  on  their  pool  he  was 
substituting  the  ocean  tides.  For  the  cir- 
cle of  their  native  hills  and  valleys  he  was 
substituting  a  line  which  embraced  the  ut- 
termost parts  of  the  earth.  And  that  is 
what  I  wish  to  do  in  this  meditation.  I 
wish  to  proclaim  the  vastness  of  the  divine 
orbit,  the  tremendous  sweep  of  the  divine 
decrees,  and  I  wish  to  emphasize  the  teach- 
ing of  this  great  prophet,  that  momentous 
destinies  may  be  born  in  far-away  places, 
even  at  the  very  end  of  the  world.  "The 
Lord  shall  hiss  for  the  fly  that  is  in  the 
uttermost  part  of  the  rivers  of  Egypt,  and 
for  the  bee  that  is  in  the  land  of  Assvria." 

Well  then,  under  the  power  of  this  teach- 
ing, let  us  think  in  wider  orbits  of  the 
divine  inspiration  of  nations.  For  we  are 
apt  to  imprison  our  thought  within  very 
narrow  and  artificial  restraints.  Much  of 
our  thought  about  providential  movements 
shuts  God  up  to  the  circle  of  so-called 


186    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

Christian  nations*.  Bnt  what  if  a  fierce  and 
decadent  civilization  is  to  be  corrected  by 
the  inspired  influence  of  such  peoples  as 
are  described  by  Eudyard  Kipling  as 
"lesser  breeds  without  the  law?"  What 
if  our  God  will  hiss  for  the  fly  and  the  bee 
among  just  such  peoples  as  we  are  in- 
clined to  patronize  or  despise?  Let  us 
imagine  some  modern  Isaiah  standing  up 
in  London  or  New  York  and  uttering  words 
like  these; — "The  Lord  shall  hiss  for  the 
fly  that  is  in  the  uttermost  part  of  China, 
and  for  the  bee  that  is  in  the  land  of  In- 
dia.' '  I  know  that  such  a  doctrine  shocks 
our  national  susceptibilities,  just  as  a 
similar  doctrine  shocked  the  national  pride 
of  the  ancient  Jews.  But  such  a  doctrine 
offers  the  only  true  interpretation  of  the 
range  of  the  divine  orbit.  It  may  be  that 
the  reinforcements  of  civilization  are  to 
come  from  the  movements  of  the  stagnant 
waters  of  China.  It  may  be  that  rivers 
of  vitality  are  to  flow  into  our  life  from 
the  meditative,  contemplative,  philosophic, 
mystic  races  of  India.  Just  think  of  their 
quiet,  lofty,  serious  brooding,  stealing  into 
our  feverish  materialism  and  sobering  the  , 
fierceness  of  the  quest.    I  cannot  but  won- 


INVISIBLE  COMMANDER  187 

der  what  the  good  Lord,  in  the  vastness  of 
His  orbit,  is  even  now  preparing  for  the 
world  on  the  far-away  plains  of  India  and 
China. 

Let  your  imagination  exercise  itself 
again  in  the  larger  orbit,  and  think  of  some 
modern  prophet  standing  up  in  London 
with  this  message  upon  his  lips; — "The 
Lord  shall  hiss  for  the  fly  that  is  in  the 
uttermost  parts  of  Russia."  The  message 
strikes  us  as  incredible,  but  it  is  only  be- 
cause, like  the  people  of  Judah,  our  con- 
ception of  the  divine  orbit  is  so  small  and 
circumscribed.  I  for  one  am  watching 
with  fascinated  eyes  the  movements  of 
Russia.  I  am  wondering  what  is  coming 
to  us  from  that  great  people,  so  long  and 
patiently  sad,  so  full  of  reverence,  going 
on  long,  weary  pilgrimages  to  bow  at  holy 
shrines.  Superstition?  Yes,  if  you  please. 
But  I  am  wondering  what  is  going  to  hap- 
pen when  the  dogged  strength  of  that 
superstition  becomes  an  enlightened  faith. 
I  am  wondering  what  will  happen  when 
that  rich,  fertile  bed  of  national  reverence 
begins  to  bear  the  full  and  matured  fruits 
of  the  Spirit.  What  then?  I  know  it  is 
not  easy  to  think  it.     It  is  not  easy  to 


183    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

widen  the  orbit  of  one's  thought.  It  is 
never  easy  to  stretch  a  neglected  or  unused 
muscle.  But  the  wider  thought  is  the  orbit 
of  our  God,  and  in  the  mysterious  land  of 
Eussia  untold  destinies  may  be  even  now 
at  the  birth. 

And  so  do  I  urge  that  we  think  in  vaster 
orbits  of  the  divine  inspiration  of  nations. 
Let  us  reject  the  atheism  of  incredulity, 
and  let  us  encourage  ourselves  in  the 
boundless  hope  of  an  all-encompassing  God 
of  the  human  race.  The  great  God  jour- 
neys on  in  His  tremendous  orbit,  and  who 
knows  from  what  unlikely  peoples  the 
rejuvenation  of  the  world  is  to  come? 
"The  Lord  shall  hiss  for  the  fly  that  is  in 
the  uttermost  part  of  the  rivers  of  Egypt, 
and  for  the  bee  that  is  in  the  land  of  As- 
syria. ' ' 

Now  I  want  to  go  further,  and  under  the 
power  of  the  prophets  teaching  I  would 
urge  that  we  think  in  wide  orbits  of  the 
divine  raising  of  the  heroic  leaders  of  men. 
In  what  wide  and  mysterious  sweeps  the 
great  God  works  when  He  wants  a  leader 
of  men!  The  man  is  wanted  here  at  the 
center,  but  he  is  being  prepared  yonder  on 
the  remote  circumference !    God  hisses  for 


INVISIBLE  COMMANDER  189 

the  fly  or  the  bee,  and  He  calls  it  from  very 
obscure  and  unlikely  fields. 

Here  is  ancient  Israel.  Her  altars  are 
defiled,  and  her  balances  are  perverted. 
She  is  hollow  in  worship,  and  she  is 
crooked  in  trade,  and  the  people  are  list- 
less in  their  debasement.  A  leader  is 
wanted  to  awake  and  scourge  the  people. 
Where  shall  he  be  found?  The  Lord  hisses 
for  a  fly  in  Tekoa,  a  wretched  little  village, 
in  a  mean  and  scanty  setting;  and  the  fly 
was  a  poor  herdman,  following  the  flock, 
and  eking  out  his  miserable  living  by 
gathering  the  figs  of  the  sycamore.  And 
this  Amos  was  God's  man!  A  prophet  of 
fire  was  wanted  in  Bethel,  and  God  pre- 
pared him  in  Tekoa!  But  what  an  orbit, 
and  who  would  have  thought  that  Tekoa 
would  have  been  a  school  of  the  prophets  ? 

Stride  across  the  centuries.  The  re- 
ligion of  Europe  has  become  a  gloss  for 
indulgence.  Nay,  it  has  become  an  ex- 
cuse for  it  The  Father's  house  has  be- 
come a  den  of  thieves.  The  doctrines  of 
grace  have  been  wiped  out  by  a  system  of 
man-devised  works.  Eeligion  is  devital- 
ized, and  morals  have  become  dissolute. 
Wanted,  a  man,  who  shall  be  both  scourge 


190    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

and  evangelist!  Where  shall  he  be  found? 
"The  Lord  hissed  for  the  fly"  that  was  in 
Eisleben,  in  the  house  of  a  poor  miner,  and 
Martin  Luther  came  forth  to  grapple  with 
all  the  corruptions  of  established  religion. 
But  what  an  orbit !  A  fire  was  wanted  to 
burn  up  the  refuse  which  had  accumulated 
over  spiritual  religion,  and  the  fire  was 
-first  kindled  in  a  little  home,  in  a  little 
village,  far  away  from  the  broad  highways 
of  social  privilege  and  advantage.  Again, 
I  say,  what  an  orbit ! 

March  forward  again  across  the  years. 
Here  is  England  under  the  oppression  of 
a  king  who  claims  divine  sanction  for  his 
oppression.  There  is  no  tyranny  like  the 
tyranny  which  stamps  itself  with  a  holy 
seal.  And  in  those  old  days  of  Charles  I, 
tyranny  wore  a  sacred  badge.  Tyranny 
carried  a  cross;  It  was  tyranny  by  divine 
right.  Wrong  was  justified  by  grace.  I 
say,  of  all  tyrannies,  this  is  the  most  tyran- 
nical. Wanted,  a  man  to  meet  and  over- 
throw it!  Where  will  he  be  found?  Will 
he  be  found  in  some  national  centre  of 
learning  where  wealthy  privilege  holds  her 
seat?  Oh,  no!  The  Lord  hissed  for  a  fly 
on  the  fens,  from  a  little  farm  at  Hunting- 


INVISIBLE  COMMANDER  191 

ton,  and  Oliver  Cromwell  emerged,  to  try- 
swords  with  the  king  on  his  throne!  Let 
me  give  the  familiar  glimpse  which  Sir 
Philip  Warwick  offers  us  of  Cromwell 
making  his  first  speech  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  "I  came  into  the  House  one 
morning,  well  clad,  and  perceived  a  gentle- 
man speaking  whom  I  knew  not,  very, 
ordinarily  appareled,  for  it  was  a  plain 
cloth  suit,  which  seemed  to  have  been  made 
by  an  ill  country  tailor.  His  linen  was 
plain  and  not  very  clean,  and  I  remember 
a  speck  or  two  of  blood  upon  his  little  band, 
which  was  not  much  larger  than  his  collar. 
His  hat  was  without  a  hat-band.  His  stat- 
ure was  of  a  good  size;  his  sword  stuck 
close  to  his  side;  his  countenance  swollen 
and  reddish;  his  voice  sharp  and  untun- 
able,  and  his  eloquence  full  of  fervour." 
And  there  is  God's  man!  But  what  an 
orbit !  A  man  was  wanted  for  the  defence 
of  liberty  and  spiritual  religion,  and  God 
prepared  this  man  in  the  obscurity  of  a 
little  farm  among  the  fens.  What  an  orbit 
is  marked  by  the  goings  of  the  Lord.  The 
Lord  hissed  for  the  fly  on  the  fen. 

March    forward    across    the    centuries. 
Here  is  slavery  in  the  American  republic. 


102    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

In  spite  of  the  noble  words  of  the  Declar- 
ation of  Independence :  l i  That  all  men  are 
created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable 
rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness" — in  spite 
of  these  ringing  human  claims  slavery 
nestled  beneath  the  American  flag.  "Well, 
wanted  a  man  to  deal  with  it !  Where  will 
he  be  found?  Will  he  be  found  in  some 
university  centre  1  Will  he  be  a  paragon  of 
intellectual  learning  and  accomplishment! 
Oh  no !  The  Lord  hissed  for  a  fly  in  Har- 
den, in  a  scraggy  part  of  Kentucky,  Har- 
den with  its  "barren  hillocks  and  weedy 
hollows,  and  stunted  and  scrubby  under- 
bush," — and  there  in  a  dismal  solitude, 
and  in  a  cheerless  home,  and  in  the  deepest 
poverty,  the  great  God  made  His  man,  and 
Abraham  Lincoln  came  forth  to  cross 
swords  with  the  great  wrong,  and  to  ring 
the  bells  of  freedom  from  the  "frozen 
North  to  the  glowing  South,  and  from  the 
stormy  waters  of  the  Atlantic  westward 
to  the  calmer  waters  of  the  Pacific  Main.,, 
But  what  an  orbit  of  divine  providence! 
Who  would  have  guessed  that  just  there, 
in  that  poor,  unschooled,  and  unprivileged 


INVISIBLE  COMMANDER  193 

family  the  great  God  was  doing  His  mo- 
mentous work?  And  I  wonder  where  now 
in  the  vast  orbit  of  His  providence  He  is 
rearing  the  leaders  of  to-morrow?  Our 
God  moves  in  mighty  sweeps,  and  He  is 
even  now  at  work  in  the  mysterious  minis- 
tries of  His  grace.  "The  Lord  shall  hiss 
for  the  fly  that  is  in  the  uttermost  part  of 
the  rivers  of  Egypt  and  for  the  bee  that 
is  in  the  land  of  Assyria.' ' 

And  then,  under  the  influence  of  the 
prophet's  teaching  I  want  once  more  to 
urge  that  we  think  in  wider  orbits  of  the 
divine  presence  in  the  individual  life.  For 
instance,  in  what  sweeping  orbits  the  Lord 
moves  on  His  journeys  in  seeking  to  bring 
us  to  Himself,  and  to  fashion  us  into  the 
strength  and  beauty  of  His  own  image. 
He  lifts  an  ensign  to  some  remote  circum- 
stance, and  from  afar  there  comes  an  in- 
fluence which  sets  me  on  the  road  to  God. 
He  calls  a  ministry  from  distant  Egypt,  or 
from  far  off  Assyria,  and  my  life  is  turned 
to  the  home  of  my  Lord. 

Here  is  a  careless  young  son  of  wealth 
in  Cambridge  University.  Life  for  him  is 
Just  an  idle  sport,  a  careless  revel,  a  jaunty 
outing,  an  enjoyable  extravagance.     Life 


194    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

is  just  a  shallow,  shimmering  pool;  not 
an  ocean  with  momentous  tidal  forces,  and 
with  the  voice  of  the  great  Eternal  speak- 
ing in  its  mighty  tones.  Wanted  a  man  to 
awake  this  indolent  son  of  wealth !  And  in 
what  an  orbit  God  moved  to  find  the  man ! 
The  Lord  hissed  for  a  fly  in  Massachusetts, 
and  there,  in  Northfield,  was  a  poor  home- 
stead, encumbered  with  mortgage;  and  a 
poor  widow  with  seven  children,  so  poor 
that  the  very  kindling  wood  was  taken  by 
the  creditors  from  the  shed.  And  there  in 
that  poor  woman's  house  God  made  His 
man,  and  Dwight  Moody  came  forth,  and 
went  to  Cambridge  University,  and  pro- 
claimed the  evangel  of  grace,  and  by  the 
love  of  God  won  this  young  fellow  from  a 
loose  and  jaunty  and  indifferent  life,  and 
kindled  in  him  a  passionate  devotion  to 
Christ  which  is  now  blazing  away  on  the 
Southern  Soudan  in  a  campaign  to  light  a 
line  of  Christian  beacon-fires  which  shall 
stretch  from  coast  to  coast !  But  what  an 
orbit!  From  a  poor  widow's  homestead 
in  Northfield  to  a  sporting  young  fellow 
in  Cambridge  University! 

I  met  a  cultured  man  the  other  day,  a 
man  who  has  enjoyed  all  the  academic  ad- 


INVISIBLE  COMMANDER  Vj5 

vantages  that  money  can  provide,  a  man 
of  university  culture  and  distinction,  but 
whose  life  has  been  spiritually  indifferent, 
and  who  has  held  coldly  aloof  from  God 
and  the  Kingdom  of  God.  And  in  the  vast 
orbit  of  His  providence  the  great  God 
brought  this  man  into  communion  with 
Billy  Sunday,  and  all  the  stubble  of  his 
neglected  life  was  burned  up  in  the  con- 
suming fire  of  his  kindled  love  for  the 
Lord.  But  just  think  of  the  orbit!  The 
Lord  hissed  for  His  fly,  and  from  the  ap- 
parently incredible  circumstance  of  a 
slangy  evangelist  this  man  was  brought  to 
his  Father's  House  in  reconciliation  and 
peace.  Again  I  say,  what  an  orbit!  "I 
will  bring  the  blind  by  a  way  that  they 
know  not,"  and  under  His  wide  and  mys- 
terious leadership  the  blind  find  them- 
selves at  home. 

And  so,  my  friends,  our  God  is  still  mov- 
ing in  these  vast  orbits:  He  hisses  for  a 
disappointment,  and  it  comes  and  throws 
its  shadow  upon  our  life,  but  the  shadow 
is  purposed  to  be  one  of  the  healing 
shadows  of  grace.  "I  will  command  the 
clouds,  saith  the  Lord."  Yes,  even  our 
cloudy  experiences  move  under  command. 


196    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

They  travel  in  the  tremendous  orbit  of  His 
providence.  "I  will  command  the  ravens, 
saith  the  Lord  God. ' '  Yes,  there  are  diverse 
circumstances  that  come  to  us  on  wings, — 
kind  words,  cheering  messages,  bright  in- 
spirations, and  they  are  the  commanded 
ministers  of  God's  providence.  They  are 
God's  messengers  on  wings! 

We  can  never  tell  in  what  remote  cir- 
cumstances the  good  Lord  is  even  now  pre- 
paring our  to-morrow.  But  of  one  thing 
we  may  be  perfectly  sure,  the  great  Lord 
is  at  work,  and  He  is  at  work  over  wide 
fields;  "Rest  in  the  Lord,  and  wait 
patiently  for  Him."  "The  Lord  is  thy 
keeper.  .  .  .  The  Lord  shall  keep  thee 
from  all  evil,  He  shall  keep  thy  soul.  The 
Lord  shall  keep  thy  going  out  and  thy  com- 
ing in  from  this  time  forth,  and  even  for 
evermore. ' ' 


XII 

THE  SOLDIER'S 
FIRE 


HEAVENLY  FATHER,  may  we  experience  that  deepest  of 
all  joys  which  is  born  of  holy  communion  with  Thee.  Lead  us 
into  new  fields  of  our  wonderful  inheritance  in  Christ.  May 
we  have  new  surprises  of  grace.  May  some  fresh  revelations 
of  Thy  love  break  upon  our  astonished  vision.  Remove  the 
scales  from  our  eyes,  so  that  we  may  see  clearly  the  things  which 
are  waiting  to  be  unveiled.  Graciously  make  known  to  us  what 
Thou  wouldst  have  us  be  in  order  that  we  may  then  more  clearly 
apprehend  what  Thou  wouldst  have  us  do.  Help  us  to  remember 
what  we  ought  not  to  forget,  and  help  us  to  forget  what  we  ought 
not  to  remember.  May  our  minds  be  the  servants  of  Thy 
truth,  Let  the  beams  of  heavenly  light  chase  out  the  darkness 
of  error  and  let  it  be  all  glorious  within.  We  humbly  pray 
Thee  to  deliver  us  from  our  selfishness,  and  enlarge  and  refine 
our  sympathies  until  they  express  themselves  in  willing  sacri- 
fice. May  we  feel  the  pains  of  others,  and  carry  their  burdens 
and  share  their  yokes.  May  the  circles  of  our  compassion 
grow  larger  every  day.  Let  the  ends  of  the  earth  be  at  our  own 
doors,  and  so  may  we  hear  the  cry  which  is  very  far  off.  Illumine 
our  lives  in  this  service,  and  send  us  forth  to  enlighten  and 
kindle  the  lives  of  others.  Make  us  missionaries  of  Thy  truth 
and  ambassadors  of  Thy  grace  and  love.  May  we  be  quick 
to  discern  opportunity,  and  ready  to  use  it  in  the  service  of  the 
King.    Amen, 


XII 
THE  SOLDIER'S  FIRE 

"He  shall  baptize  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire."  Mat- 
thew 3 :  11. 

SUCH  is  the  divine  promise.  Let  me 
read  the  story  of  its  fulfilment. 
"And  when  the  day  of  Pentecost 
was  fully  come  they  were  all  with  one  ac- 
cord in  one  place.  And  suddenly  there 
came  a  sound  from  heaven  as  of  a  rushing 
mighty  wind,  and  it  filled  all  the  house 
where  they  were  sitting.  And  there  ap- 
peared unto  them  cloven  tongues,  like  as 
of  fire,  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them.,,  Do 
not  let  us  become  victims  of  the  letter  and 
become  entangled  in  the  symbolism.  It  is 
possible  so  to  regard  material  signs  as  to 
lose  their  spiritual  significance.  A  musi- 
cal word  may  conceal  its  own  thought. 
Words  are  purposed  to  be  the  vehicles  of 
mind.    Symbols  are  intended  to  be  trans- 

199 


200    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

parencies,  losing  themselves  in  something 
better.  They  are  ordained  to  be  thorough- 
fares through  which  we  pass  to  nobler 
destinations.  The  sign  is  to  be  the  servant 
of  its  own  significance. 

Here  then  are  men  and  women  who  are 
about  to  receive  the  promised  gift  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  They  have  been  waiting  as 
their  Master  directed,  waiting  in  prayer, 
and  in  prayer  incalculably  strengthened  by 
community  of  desire,  waiting  in  trembling 
watchfulness  and  expectation.  Then  the 
much-hoped-for  day  arrives  and  their 
spirits  receive  the  infinite  reinforcement  of 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

We  have  a  very  pale  reflection  of  this  ex- 
perience when  two  human  spirits  are  given 
to  each  other  in  deep  and  vital  communion: 
When  David  received  the  gift  of  Jona- 
than's spirit,  and  Jonathan  received  the 
gift  of  David's  spirit,  each  of  them  ob- 
tained immeasurable  enrichment.  When 
Robert  Browning  received  the  gift  of  Eliza- 
beth Barrett's  spirit,  and  Elizabeth  Bar- 
rett received  the  gift  of  Robert  Browning's 
spirit,  who  can  calculate  the  wealth  which 
each  of  them  found  in  the  other's  posses- 
sion? 


THE  SOLDIER'S  FIRE  201 

But  these  examples,  and  others  even 
more  sacred  which  we  could  gather  from 
our  own  experience,  are  only  pale  and  wan 
and  shadowy,  compared  with  the  wonder 
which  breaks  upon  the  soul  when  the  spirit 
of  man  receives  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  and  the  two  dwell  together  in  mystic 
and  glorious  communion.  What  happens 
to  the  human  spirit  is  suggested  to  us 
under  the  familiar  symbols  of  wind  and 
fire.  "Like  unto  a  rushing  mighty  wind;" 
"like  unto  fire."  Do  not  let  us  be  en- 
slaved by  any  hampering  details  in  the 
figures.  Let  us  seek  their  broad  signifi- 
cance. And  what  is  the  characteristic  of  a 
rushing  mighty  wind!  It  dispels  the  fog. 
It  freshens  the  atmosphere.  It  gives  life 
and  nimbleness  to  the  air.  It  is  the  minis- 
ter of  vitality.  And  the  breath  of  God's 
Spirit  is  like  that;  it  clears  the  human 
spirit,  and  freshens  it,  and  vitalizes  it;  it 
acts  upon  the  soul  like  the  air  of  a  spiritual 
spring*.  And  as  for  the  symbol  of  the  fire ; 
fire  is  the  antagonist  of  all  that  is  frozen; 
it  is  the  antagonist  of  the  torpid,  the  tepid ; 
it  is  the  minister  of  fervour,  and  buoyancy, 
and  expansion.  The  wind  changes  the  at- 
mosphere, the  fire  changes  the  tempera- 


202    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

ture;  and  the  holy  Spirit  of  God  changes 
the  atmosphere  and  temperature  of  the 
soul;  and  when  you  have  changed  the  at- 
mosphere and  temperature  of  a  soul  you 
have  accomplished  a  mighty  transforma- 
tion. It  is  ahout  this  change  in  the  moral 
and  spiritual  temperature  that  I  want  to 
meditate,  the  gift  of  fire  which  we  receive 
in  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  If  the 
spirit  of  man  and  the  spirit  of  God  come 
into  blessed  communion,  and  the  fire  of 
God  is  given,  how  will  it  reveal  and  ex- 
press itself?  For  if  there  be  a  gift  of 
fire  in  the  soul  we  shall  most  surely 
know  it.  Fire  is  one  of  the  things  which 
cannot  be  hid.  You  can  hide  a  painted 
sun  in  your  parlour  and  no  one  will 
know  it  is  there,  but  you  cannot  hide  a 
glowing  fire.  A  man  can  hide  a  denomi- 
national label,  he  cannot  possibly  hide  the 
holy  fire  of  God.  How,  then,  shall  we  know 
that  the  fire  is  there? 

First  of  all  I  think  I  should  look  for  the 
holy  fire  on  the  common  hearthstone  of 
human  love.  If  the  fire  of  God  does  not 
warm  up  the  affections  I  fail  to  recognize 
what  its  heat  can  be  worth*.  The  first  thing 
to  warm  up  is  the  heart.     The  intimate 


THE  SOLDIER'S  FIRE  203 

friend  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  known  by  the 
ardour  of  his  affections.  He  loves  with  a 
pure  heart  fervently.  He  is  baptized  with 
lire.  Now  I  need  not  seek  to  prove  the 
existence  of  cold  hearts  among  us;  I  am 
afraid  we  must  accept  them  without  ques- 
tion. Whether  there  are  hearts  like  fire- 
grates without  a  spark  of  fire  I  cannot  tell. 
Personally,  I  have  never  met  with  anyone 
in  whose  soul  the  fire  of  love  had  gone 
quite  out.  I  think  that  if  we  sought  very 
diligently  among  the  gray  dusty  ashes  of 
any  burnt-out  life  we  should  find  a  little 
love  somewhere.  Yes,  even  in  Judas  Is- 
cariot,  or  in  the  dingy  soul-grate  of  old 
frozen-out  Scrooge".  But  there  are  surely 
souls  so  cold,  and  so  destitute  of  love,  that 
the  poor  fire  never  leaps  up  in  dancing, 
cheering,  welcome  flames.  Their  tempera- 
ture is  zero. 

There  are  other  souls  with  a  little  fire 
of  love  burning,  but  it  is  very  sad,  very 
sodden,  very  sullen,  very  dull.  There  is 
more  smoke  than  fire.  There  is  more  surli- 
ness than  love.  Their  fire  is  not  inviting 
and  attractive.  There  is  a  little  spitting, 
and  spluttering,  and  crackling,  but  there 
is   no   fine,   honest,    ruddy   glow.     Their 


204    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

temperature  is  about  ten  above  freezing. 
They  are  not  frozen  but  they  are  not  com- 
forting. 

There  are  other  lives  where  the  fire  of 
affection  is  burning  more  brightly,  and  cer- 
tainly with  more  attractive  glow,  but 
where  it  seems  as  if  the  quality  of  the 
fuel  must  be  poor  because  the  fire  gives 
out  comparatively  little  heat.  The  heart 
sends  out  a  cheery  beam  across  the  family 
circle,  but  it  does  not  reach  beyond.  There 
is  no  cordial  warmth  for  the  wider  circles 
of  fellowship.  The  fire  burns  in  the  home 
but  it  does  not  affect  the  office.  It  encom- 
passes the  child  but  it  has  no  cheer  for  the 
stranger.  What  is  the  temperature  of  such 
a  life?  It  is  very  difficult  to  appraise  it. 
Perhaps  it  will  be  best  to  say  that  in  one 
room  of  the  soul  the  temperature  is  60, 
while  in  all  the  other  rooms  it  is  down 
towards  freezing. 

And,  therefore,  I  need  not  say  how  pro- 
found is  the  need  in  the  world  for  warm, 
glowing,  affectional  fires*.  What  awfully 
cold  lives  there  are  in  the  city,  just  wait- 
ing for  the  cheer  of  "the  flame  of  sacred 
love!"  There  are  souls  whose  fires  have 
died  down  at  the  touch  of  death.    There  are 


THE  SOLDIER'S  FIRE  205 

others  whose  glow  has  been  dulled  by 
heavy  sorrow.  There  are  others  whose 
love  has  been  slaked  by  the  pitiless  rains 
of  pelting  defeat.  There  are  others  again 
whose  hearts  are  cold  in  the  midst  of 
material  wealth.  They  have  richly  fur- 
nished dwellings,  but  their  hearts  are  like 
ice.  They  are  unloved  and  unlovely,  and 
they  are  frostbitten  in  the  realms  of  lux- 
ury. Wealth  can  buy  attention;  it  can 
never  purchase  love.  My  God!  What 
cold  souls  there  are  in  this  great  city! 

And,  therefore,  what  a  clamant  and  ur- 
gent need  there  is  for  love-fires  at  which  to 
kindle  these  souls  that  are  heavy,  and  bur- 
dened, and  cold.  And  when  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  given  to  a  man,  and  he  is  baptized  with 
fire,  it  must  surely,  first  of  all,  be  the  fire 
of  cordial,  human  affection.  And  such  is 
the  teaching  of  experience.  When  John 
Wesley  came  into  the  fulness  of  the  divine 
blessing  in  a  little  service  at  Aldersgate 
Street,  London,  he  said  that  he  "felt  his 
heart  strangely  warmed.' '  He  was  receiv- 
ing the  gift  of  holy  fire.  And  I  cannot 
but  think  that  Charles  Wesley  was  think- 
ing about  his  brother's  experience  on  that 


206    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

day  when  he  wrote  his  own  immortal  hymn 
which  includes  the  prayerful  lines  : 

"Kindle  a  fianie  of  sacred  love 
In  these  cold  hearts  of  ours." 

You  find  and  feel  the  glow  of  that  love- 
fire  throughout  the  New  Testament  Scrip- 
tures. They  who  have  the  most  of  God's 
Spirit  have  the  most  of  the  fire.  There 
was  Barnabas,  who  was  declared  to  be 
"full  of  the  Holy  Spirit,' '  and  he  is  also 
described  as  "the  son  of  consolation." 
What  a  consummate  title!  Cannot  we 
feel  the  love-fire  burning  and  glowing  in 
all  his  ample  ministry?  Full  of  the  Spirit, 
and  therefore  full  of  consolation!  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is  this, — we  cannot  be 
much  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  not 
take  fire  from  His  presence.  In  these  high 
realms,  communing  is  partaking,  and  we 
kindle  to  the  same  affection  as  fills  the 
heart  of  the  Lord.  "We  love  because  He 
first  loved  us."  His  fire  lights  our  fire, 
and  we  burn  in  kindred  passion.  So  do  I 
proclaim  that  when  the  fire  of  God  falls 
upon  our  spirits  the  sacred  gift  kindles  and 
inflames  the  soul's  affections.  When  we 
are  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with 


THE  SOLDIER'S  FIRE  207 

fire,    we    receive    the   glowing    power    of 
Christian  love. 

Where  else  shall  we  look  for  that  holy 
fire  in  human  life?  I  think  I  should  look 
for  the  presence  of  the  fire  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  fervent  enthusiasm  for  the  cause 
of  Christ's  Kingdom.  And  that  indeed  is 
what  I  find.  The  New  Testament  instructs 
me  in  this,  and  it  teaches  me  that  where 
man  is  baptized  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
with  fire  his  own  spirit  becomes  fervent. 
He  is  declared  to  be  "fervent  in  spirit," 
and  the  original  word  means  to  bubble  up, 
to  boil,  as  in  a  boiling  kettle;  it  is  the 
emergence  of  the  mighty  power  of  steam. 
And  so  the  significance  is  this:  the  fire 
of  God  generates  steam,  it  creates  driv- 
ing power,  it  produces  forceful  and  in- 
vincible enthusiasm.  You  will  find  abun- 
dant examples  of  this  spiritual  miracle  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles;  perhaps  the 
Book  might  be  more  truly  named  "The 
Acts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,' '  for  all  the 
glorious  activity  is  generated  by  His  holy 
fire.  Let  your  eyes  glance  over  the  apos- 
tolic record.  Mark  how  the  fire  of  God 
endows  man  with  the  power  of  magnificent 
initiative.     Take  the  apostle  Peter; — once 


208    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

his  strength  was  the  strength  of  impulse, 
a  spurt  and  then  a  collapse,  a  spasm  and 
then  a  retreat,  proud  beginnings  bereft  of 
patience  and  perseverance.  But  see  him 
when  the  Spirit  of  God  has  got  hold  upon 
him,  and  what  a  gift  he  has  received  of 
initial  and  sustained  enthusiasm!  "And 
Peter,  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit I"  You 
should  see  him  then,  and  note  the  strength 
of  his  drive,  and  the  ardour  of  his  enter- 
prise !  And  the  example  of  Peter  would  be 
confirmed  by  the  examples  of  all  the  other 
apostles,  if  only  we  knew  their  personal 
history  and  experience.  I  wish  there  had 
been  given  to  us  just  a  glimpse  of  doubting 
Thomas,  slow,  hesitant,  reluctant,  uncer- 
tain, when  the  Holy  Spirit  had  him  in 
possession.  "And  Thomas  filled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,' ' — I  would  give  something  to 
know  the  end  of  that  sentence.  And  I 
wish  we  had  one  glimpse  of  timid,  fear- 
ful, night-walking  Nicodemus,  when  the 
fire  of  God's  Spirit  blazed  in  his  soul. 
"Then  Nicodemus,  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit," — I  wonder  what  notable  exploits 
would  complete  that  unfinished  sentence. 
This  we  know;  the  holy  fire  transformed 
the  timid  into  the  courageous,  the  luke- 


THE  SOLDIER'S  FIRE  209 

warm  into  the  fervent,  it  generated  a  moral 
steam  which  made  them  invincible. 

The  first  apostles  drove  through  tre- 
mendous obstacles.  Indeed,  they  never 
had  the  comfort  of  an  open  and  unimpeded 
road.  Every  road  was  thick  with  adver- 
saries. What  then?  Through  them  or 
over  them !  ' '  But,  Sire, ' '  said  a  timid  and 
startled  officer  to  Napoleon,  on  receiving 
apparently  impossible  commands,  "But, 
Sire,  there  are  the  Alps!"  "Then  there 
must  be  no  Alps,"  replied  his  audacious 
chief.  "There  must  be  no  Alps!"  That 
was  the  very  spirit  of  the  first  apostles. 
Mighty  antagonisms  reared  themselves  in 
their  way, — ecclesiastical  prejudices,  the 
prejudices  of  culture,  social  hostilities, 
political  expediences,  and  all  the  subtle  and 
violent  contrivances  of  the  world,  the  flesh 
and  the  devil.  "But,  Sire,  there  are  the 
Alps!"  "There  must  be  no  Alps!" 
Through  them!  Over  them!  What  that 
coward  Peter  got  through  when  the  fire  of 
God  glowed  in  his  soul !  When  a  man  has 
the  holy  fire  of  God  within  him  he  has  a 
boiling  fervency  of  spirit,  and  he  can  drive 
through  anything: 

And  that  same  holy  fire  gives  the  same 


210    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

terrific  power  to-day,  the  same  driving  en- 
thusiasm, the  same  patient,  dogged,  in- 
vincible perseverance.  If  a  man  declares 
that  he  has  received  the  fire  of  God's  Holy 
Spirit,  I  will  look  eagerly  for  the  impetus 
of  his  sacred  enthusiasm.  If  he  be  a 
preacher  I  will  look  for  labour  in  the  pas- 
sion, and  the  unsnarable  energy  and 
patience  which  he  will  assuredly  put  into 
his  work.  If  he  be  a  teacher,  I  will  examine 
the  generated  steam,  and  note  how  much  he 
can  do,  how  far  he  can  travel,  and  how 
long  he  can  hold  out  in  the  service  of  his 
Lord.  If  he  be  a  man  who  has  set  himself 
to  some  piece  of  social  reconstruction  I  will 
watch  with  what  ardour,  and  ingenuity, 
and  inevitableness  he  is  moving  towards 
his  goal.  Is  it  the  smashing  of  the  saloons? 
"Then  Peter,  filled  with  the  Holy  fire;"— 
what  if  that  power  were  harnessed  to  the 
enterprise?  Or  is  it  the  awful  plague  and 
blight  of  impurity ;  or  is  it  the  cleaning  up 
of  politics;  the  establishment  of  rectitude 
in  civic  and  national  life !  Whatever  it  be, 
the  holy  fire  of  God  will  reveal  its  presence 
in  the  soul  of  man  in  an  ardent  enthusiasm 
which  cannot  be  quenched.  It  is  the 
promise  of  our  God,  and  shall  He  not  do 


THE  SOLDIER'S  FIRE  211 

it?  "He  maketh  His  ministers  a  flaming 
fire," — and  that  fire  can  never  be  blown 
out  in  the  darkest  and  most  tempestuous 
nights. 

And  lastly,  I  shall  look  for  the  signs  of 
the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  fire 
of  sacred  resentment  If  a  man  is  baptized 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire,  I  shall 
expect  to  see  the  presence  of  that  fire  in 
the  capacity  of  hot  and  sensitive  indigna- 
tion-. I  need  not  say  that  there  is  a  mighty 
difference  between  hot  temper  and  hot  in- 
dignation. Hot  temper  is  a  firing  of  loose 
powder  upon  a  shovel.  It  is  just  a  flare, 
and  an  annoyance,  and  a  danger.  But  hot 
indignation  is  powder  concentrated  in  the 
muzzle  of  a  gun,  and  intelligently  directed 
to  the  overthrow  of  some  stronghold  of 
iniquity.  Hot  temper  is  the  fire  of  the 
devil.  Hot  indignation  is  the  fire  of  God ; 
it  is  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb.  What  is  this 
capacity  of  indignation!  It  is  the  oppo- 
site to  frozen  antipathy,  to  tepid  curiosity, 
to  sinful  " don't  care,"  to  all  immoral  cold- 
ness and  calculated  indifference.  There 
are  many  people  who  can  be  irritated,  but 
they  are  never  indignant.  They  can  be 
offended,  but  they  are  never  nobly  angry. 


212    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

The  souls  who  are  possessed  with  the  fire 
of  God  are  the  very  opposite  to  all  these; 
I  said  at  the  very  beginning  of  this  medi- 
tation that  the  breath  of  God  is  like  the 
quickening  atmosphere  of  the  Spring;  but 
it  is  equally  true  to  say  that  it  can  be  like 
the  destructive  blast  of  the  African 
sirocco — "The  grass  withereth  and  the 
flower  fadeth  because  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  bloweth  upon  it."  The  hot  breath 
of  God  is  like  unto  a  blast  that  scorches 
things  in  their  very  roots.  And  if  we 
share  the  breath  of  God's  Spirit  we  too 
shall  be  endowed  with  the  ministry  of  the 
destructive  blast,  even  the  power  of  a  con- 
suming indignation.  Any  form  of  public 
iniquity  will  make  our  fire  blaze  with  puri- 
fying wrath.  Corruption  in  civic  or  na- 
tional government,  inhumanity  in  the 
treatment  of  the  criminal  and  the  unfor- 
tunate, the  oppression  of  the  poor,  the 
brutal  disregard  of  the  rights  of  the  weak 
and  the  defenceless,  any  one  of  these  will 
draw  out  our  souls  in  the  hot  and  aggres- 
sive indignation  which  is  the  imparted  fire 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  If  any  one  claims  to 
have  been  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  with  fire,  and  he  is  indifferent  in  the 


THE  SOLDIER'S  FIRE  213 

presence  of  licensed  iniquity,  and  apathetic 
and  lukewarm  when  gigantic  wrongs  glare 
and  stare  upon  him,  that  man's  spiritual 
baptism  is  a  pathetic  fiction,  and  his 
boasted  fire  is  only  a  painted  flame. 

But  if  a  man  suffer  a  personal  injury, 
if  some  wrong  is  done  to  him,  what  kind 
of  fire  shall  I  expect  to  see  in  his  life  if  he 
is  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost?  Yes,  if 
some  one  has  done  an  injury  to  another, 
and  the  other  has  been  baptized  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  what  kind  of  fire  will  he  re- 
veal f  Listen  to  this :  '  *  If  thine  enemy  hun- 
ger, feed  him;  if  he  thirst,  give  him 
drink ;  for  in  so  doing  thou  shalt  heap  coals 
of  fire  upon  his  head!"  It  is  the  very 
fire  that  rains  upon  us  from  the  Cross  of 
our  Lord:  "And  when  they  were  come  to 
the  place  which  is  called  Calvary,  there 
they  crucified  Him,  and  the  malefactors, 
one  on  the  right  hand  and  the  other  on  the 
left.  Then  said  Jesus,  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 
What  kind  of  fire  is  that!  It  is  the  same 
holy  fire  which  flowed  from  the  soul  of  the 
martyr  Stephen  as  he  was  being  stoned 
to  death:  "Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their 
charge."    It  is  a  marvellous  fire,  a  most 


214    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

arresting  fire ;  and  we  simply  cannot  with- 
stand it.  It  is  the  very  fire  of  grace ;  it  is 
live  coal  from  the  altar  of  God. 

So  this  is  the  sort  of  fire  I  look  for  when 
a  man  claims  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit, — the  glowing  fire  of  humble  af- 
fection, the  glowing  fire  of  noble  en- 
thusiasm, the  glowing  fire  of  indigna- 
tion, and  the  marvellous  fire  of  self-for- 
getting grace.  "He  shall  baptize  you  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire." 

"He  came  in  tongues  of  living  flame, 
To  teach,  convince,  subdue, 
All  powerful  as  the  wind  He  came, 
And  viewless  too. 

Spirit  of  purity  and  grace, 

Our  weakness,  pitying  see, 
Oh,  make  our  hearts  Thy  dwelling-place, 

And  worthier  Thee." 


XIII 

VICTORY  OVER  THE 
BEAST 


HEAVENLY  FATHER,  we  thank  Thee  for  our  knowledge 
that  all  our  springs  are  in  Thee.  Wilt  Thou  deliver  us  from 
any  sense  of  self-dependence,  and  lead  us  into  an  intimate 
fellowship  with  the  ministers  of  Thy  grace.  If  any  triumph 
has  made  us  self-confident,  if  any  earthly  success  has  made 
us  proud,  may  Thy  Holy  Spirit  lead  our  spirits  into  the  lowli- 
ness which  is  the  beginning  of  true  wisdom  and  strength.  We 
humbly  ask  that  Thou  wilt  deliver  us  from  the  sins  which  have 
become  our  masters,  and  in  which  we  find  unholy  delight. 
Incline  our  hearts  unto  Thy  law,  and  help  us  to  find  pleasure 
in  obedience  to  Thy  holy  will.  Graciously  redeem  us  from 
every  care  which  fetters  our  souls,  and  give  us  such  an  assur- 
ance of  Thy  providential  love  that  we  may  exult  in  the  glori- 
ous liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  Graciously  remember  us 
one  by  one.  Be  very  near  to  those  who  scarcely  have  the  heart 
*o  pray.  Mercifully  meet  with  those  who  have  been  stunned 
*vith  sorrow,  and  who  have  not  yet  regained  the  comforts  of  Thy 
peace.  Remember  all  who  are  in  grave  perplexity,  and  gra- 
ciously light  Thy  lamp  on  their  bewildered  way.  Receive  all 
our  little  ones  into  the  circle  of  Thy  blessing,  and  may  they 
early  rejoice  in  Thy  friendship  and  become  devoted  to  Thy 
holy  will.     Amen. 


XIII 
VICTORY  OVER  THE  BEAST 


"And  I  saw  as  it  were  a  sea  of 
glass  mingled  with  fire:  and  they 
that  had  gotten  the  victory  over  the 
beast."    Revelation  15 :  2. 


THE  symbolism  of  the  city  of  God  as 
given  in  the  Book  of  Revelation 
represents  the  character  of  its  citi- 
zens, and  all  the  glories  of  the  new  Jeru- 
salem have  correspondences  in  the  souls 
who  live  and  move  in  that  radiant  land. 
The  sea  of  glass  represents  a  spiritual 
character  of  regal  serenity,  a  character 
transparent  in  its  limpid  depths,  and  re- 
flecting in  its  stillness  the  very  image  of 
the  Lord.  And  the  sea  of  glass,  "mingled 
with  fire, ' '  is  significant  of  character  made 
fervent  by  holy  love,  purity  made  genial, 
righteousness  changed  into  goodness  by 
the  permeating  heat  of  aifectional  enthu- 
siasm and  devotion. 

217 


218    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

And  now  I  wish  to  examine  the  next  de- 
scriptive sentence,  which  tells  us  something 
of  the  history  and  experiences  of  those  who 
have  arrived  at  the  sea  of  glass,  and  who 
have  attained  the  serene  and  genial  purity 
of  those  who  hold  immediate  communion 
with  God.  And  this  is  the  sentence  which 
records  some  of  the  happenings  which 
have  befallen  them  on  the  road;  "They 
have  gotten  the  victory  over  the  beast." 
It  is  a  very  striking  conjunction,  this  which 
tells  me  that  they  who  dwell  by  the  sea  of 
glass  have  come  by  the  way  of  the  beast, 
and  that  they  have  conquered  the  beast 
by  the  way.  What  was  the  beast  which 
these  men  and  women  had  faced  and  con- 
quered as  they  moved  onward  to  the  crys- 
tal sea?  I  do  not  profess  to  know  the  pre- 
cise historic  interpretation.  The  beast 
may  have  been  the  malignant  and  vindic- 
tive antagonism  of  the  Emperor  Nero.  He 
may  have  been  the  beast.  The  beast  may 
have  been  the  hostile  and  suffocating  pres- 
sure of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  beast 
may  have  been  the  stealthy  seductions  of 
the  imperial  city  of  Rome.  The  beast  may 
have  been  the  fascinating  and  paralyzing 
charm  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil. 


VICTORY  OVER  THE  BEAST       219 

Anyone  or  all  of  these  together  may  have 
been  the  beast  which  straddled  across  the 
road  and  opposed  these  Christians  on  their 
journey  towards  home.  I  do  not  know,  and 
I  frankly  confess  I  am  not  deeply  con- 
cerned to  know.  The  general  boldness  of 
the  figure  is  quite  enough  for  me.  What- 
ever else  the  beast  may  mean  it  must  es- 
sentially mean  anti-God,  anti-Christ,  the 
antagonist  of  the  divine.  It  must  mean  the 
animal  side  of  our  nature  seeking  to  in- 
vade the  realm  of  the  spirit,  to  force  its 
way  among  the  executive  powers  of  the 
soul,  and  to  usurp  the  throne  of  God.  The 
beast  is  triumphant  when  the  flesh  and  all 
the  works  of  the  flesh  have  ousted  the 
forces  of  the  spirit.  The  beast  is  conquered 
when  the  powers  of  the  spirit  never  sur- 
render their  holy  sovereignty,  when  the 
forces  of  the  flesh  have  been  ordered  to 
their  place  among  the  rank  and  file,  and 
when  they  are  never  allowed  to  wear  the 
honours  and  prerogatives  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief. "They  that  have  gotten 
the  victory  over  the  beast.' '  The  beast  is 
just  anti-Christ,  in  whatever  form  he  may 
appear. 
Let  us  spend  a  little  while  in  first  of  all 


220    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

examining  this  beast  who  claims  the  con- 
trol and  mastery  of  our  souls.  Everybody 
has  a  vivid  experience  of  his  power,  but  it 
may  help  to  clarify  our  minds  if  we  con- 
sider what  has  been  said  about  him  by  the 
recognized  masters  and  counsellors  of  the 
soul.  Let  us  turn,  then,  to  the  pages  of 
literature,  and  first  of  all  let  us  turn  to  the 
inspired  literature  itself.  You  have 
scarcely  opened  the  Word  of  God  before 
the  beast  makes  his  appearance  in  the  form 
of  a  serpent.  "Now  the  serpent  was  more 
subtle  than  any  beast  of  the  field."  And 
who  has  not  experienced  the  wiles  of  the 
serpent  when  he  approaches  the  soul  in 
some  charming  seduction,  in  some  fascinat- 
ing crookedness,  in  some  wriggling  sophis- 
try, in  some  twisted  excuse,  in  some  wind- 
ing compromise?  Who  has  not  seen  the 
beast  when  he  has  sought  to  persuade  the 
soul  that  the  wriggle  is  the  most  graceful 
form  of  motion,  and  that  the  curve  is  more 
acceptable  than  the  straight  line?  Who 
has  not  heard  him  when  he  has  argued  that 
the  detour  is  the  shortest  way  home,  and 
that  a  slight  deviation  from  rectitude  will 
lead  to  the  noblest  ends?  Yes,  this  beast 
is  the  apostle  of  the  serpentine,  and  this 


VICTORY  OVER  THE  BEAST       221 

is  his  creed, — the  wriggle  is  the  best  way 
to  your  goal.  "The  serpent  was  more  sub- 
tle than  any  beast  of  the  field. ' ' 

I  turn  over  the  pages  of  the  old  book, 
and  I  am  confronted  with  an  extraordinary 
change  in  the  form  of  the  beast.  He  is  no 
longer  a  wriggling  serpent  but  a  prowling 
lion.  i  i  The  devil  goeth  abroad  like  a  roar- 
ing lion."  He  no  longer  makes  a  seduc- 
tive approach  to  the  intellect  with  his 
advocacy  of  the  crooked  way;  he  makes 
a  passionate  assault  upon  the  spirit  with 
all  the  fiery  forces  of  the  flesh.  It  is  no 
longer  the  wriggle  but  a  terrific  leap.  And 
who  has  not  known  him  in  this  wild  ap- 
proach! It  is  just  the  tremendous  weight 
and  pounce  of  anti-spiritual  impulse,  the 
mighty  onrush  of  carnal  longing  and  de- 
sire. The  lion  is  sheer  mass  and  weight 
of  hungry  craving.  Who  has  not  known 
the  lion  in  the  way?  .  *.  .  And  yet  be- 
side the  crystal  sea  are  those  "who  have 
gotten  the  victory  over  the  beast.' ' 

Again  I  turn  over  the  pages  of  the  old 
book,  and  once  again  the  form  of  the 
Beast  has  changed  and  he  appears  before 
me  in  the  guise  of  a  fox.  It  is  our  Master's 
name  for  the  foe.    And  who  has  not  known 


222    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

the  beast  when  he  has  assailed  the  soul 
in  the  manner  of  a  fox?  It  is  the  assault 
of  cunning,  when  things  are  made  to  ap- 
pear in  semblance  what  they  are  not  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.  Nay,  it  is  the  very  art 
of  foxiness  that  the  fox  itself  is  made  to 
look  like  a  goose,  and  the  wolf  is  given  the 
appearance  of  a  lamb.  Vice  is  dressed  up 
like  virtue.  Falsehood  moves  about  in 
white  robes  and  innocently  accosts  us  in 
the  dress  of  a  white  lie.  License  tricks 
itself  out  as  gaiety*.  Sin  clothes  itself  in 
the  fashions  of  the  hour  and  hides  its 
talons  in  silks.  I  say  this  is  the  very  genius 
of  the  fox, — he  makes  you  think  you  are 
having  converse  with  a  harmless  old  goose ! 
Who  has  not  known  the  fox  when  he  cun- 
ningly tried  to  persuade  us  that  the  devil 
was  God,  and  that  hell  was  heaven,  and 
that  death  was  .  .  .  But,  0  no,  he  never 
mentions  death!  In  his  scheme  it  is  part 
of  the  trick  that  death  shall  never  be 
known.  The  old  fox!  And  yet,  in  spite 
of  fox  and  lion  and  serpent,  there  were 
those  beside  the  sea  of  glass  "who  had 
gotten  the  victory  over  the  beast." 

Let  me  lead  you  further,  for  a  moment 
or  two,  into  the  pages  of  a  wider  literature, 


VICTORY  OVER  THE  BEAST       223 

and  let  it  be  into  the  pages  of  Dante  and 
John  Bunyan.  In  his  immortal  book  Dante 
tells  us  that  when  he  turned  his  feet  to  the 
pilgrim  road  he  was  successively  con- 
fronted by  three  beasts  which  sought  to 
stop  his  journey.  And  first  he  met  a 
leopard: 

"And  lo!  just  as  the  sloping  side  I  gained, 
A  leopard,  subtle,  lithe,  exceeding  fleet, 
Whose  skin  full  many  a  dusky  spot  did  stain; 
Nor  did  she  from  before  my  face  retreat; 
Nay,  hindered  so  my  journey  on  the  way, 
That  many  a  time  I  backward  turned  my  feet." 

The  leopard  which  confronted  Dante 
was  the  symbol  of  sensuous  beauty  which 
sought  to  block  his  road  and  ensnare  his 
feet.    Next  he  was  confronted  by  a  lion : 

"Yet  o'er  me,  spite  of  this,  did  terror  creep — 
From  aspect  of  a  lion  drawing  near. 
He  seemed  as  if  upon  me  he  would  leap, 
With  head  upraised  and  hunger  fierce  and  wild, 
So  that  a  shudder  through  the  air  did  sweep.' ' 

The  lion  was  to  Dante  the  symbol  of 
worldly  pride;     And  next  he  met  a  wolf: 

"A  she-wolf,  with  all  ill-greed  defiled, 
Laden  with  hungry  leanness  terrible." 


224    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

And  the  wolf  was  to  Dante  the  lean  symbol 
of  a  hungry  greed;  it  was  the  beastly  type 
of  avarice.  And  who  has  not  shared  the 
experience  of  Dante  on  his  own  road  and 
encountered  the  leopard,  the  lion  and  the 
wolf?  .  .  .  And  yet  there  were  those 
before  the  sea  of  glass  who  had  got  the 
victory  over  the  beast. 

Turn  to  John  Bunyan.  There  is  a  won- 
derful passage  in  the  early  part  of  John 
Bunyan 's  "Holy  War,"  in  which  he  de- 
scribes the  preparations  which  the  beast 
has  made  for  his  attack  upon  the  soul.  He 
tells  how  beast  held  counsel  with  beast, 
and  how  it  was  agreed  that  they  should  as- 
sume forms  with  which  the  soul  was  quite 
familiar ;  such  as  were  accounted  harmless, 
lest  the  soul  should  be  alarmed  when  they 
made  their  deadly  approach.  "Therefore 
let  us  assault  the  soul  in  all  pretended 
fairness,  covering  our  intentions  with  all 
manner  of  lies,  flatteries,  and  illusive 
words;  feigning  things  that  will  never  be, 
and  promising  that  to  them  which  they 
shall  never  find.,,  And  so  they  marched 
toward  the  soul,  "all  in  a  manner  invis- 
ible, "  save  only  one,  and  he  took  on  a 
shape  as  harmless  and  familiar  as  a  bird, 


VICTORY  OVER  THE  BEAST       225 

and  when  he  spoke  he  spake  with  such 
gentleness  "as  if  he  had  been  a  lamb." 
And  I  for  one  put  myself  side  by  side  with 
John  Bunyan,  for  I  too  have  known  the 
beast  when  he  has  come  disguised,  and  has 
addressed  me  with  all  the  harmlessness 
and  innocence  of  a  lamb; 

I  will  add  one  further  word  in  our  con- 
sideration of  the  beast.  When  I  look 
around  on  the  world  today,  upon  the  ap- 
palling scenes  of  passion  and  hatred  and 
slaughter, — it  is  to  me  very  significant 
that  so  many  of  the  national  emblems, 
which  represent  the  corporate  life  of  peo- 
ples, are  different  types  of  beasts.  It  is 
the  beast  which  still  provides  the  symbols 
of  our  national  life.  There  is  the  lion; 
there  is  the  bear;  there  is  the  wolf,  and  I 
know  not  what  besides !  We  talk  of  rous- 
ing the  bear  and  of  twisting  the  lion's 
tail!  Our  national  emblems  are  beasts. 
The  American  nation  has  happily  discarded 
the  beast,  but  it  has  chosen  one  of  the  fierc- 
est among  the  birds — the  bird  whose  talons 
are  more  obtrusive  than  its  song.  I  am 
suggesting  the  significance  of  the  fact  that 
we  have  found  nothing  above  the  beast  to 
symbolize    the    individuality    of   national 


226    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

life.  Perhaps  some  day  we  may  "move 
upward,"  and  we  may  erase  the  beasts 
from  our  emblems,  but  it  will  only  be  when 
we  have  driven  the  beasts  from  our  souls ! 
Well,  then,  after  this  swift  glimpse  into 
inspired  and  general  literature,  and  this 
glance  upon  the  typical  symbols  of  the 
national  life,  we  are  more  disposed  than 
ever  to  say  that  the  beast  is  just  anti- 
Christ,  the  presumptuous  claim  of  the  ani- 
mal to  take  the  place  of  the  spiritual,  the 
defiant  claim  of  the  devil  to  usurp  the 
throne  of  God.  But  here  are  men  and 
women  whose  triumph  is  recorded  in  my 
text,  who  have  conquered  the  beast,  and 
who  have  attained  a  strong  and  fervent 
purity  in  which  the  spirit  is  all  in  all. 
What  was  the  secret  of  their  triumph? 
By  what  means  and  ministries  did  they 
conquer  the  beast?  Happily  we  are  left 
in  no  manner  of  doubt,  and  the  means  by 
which  they  conquered  are  offered  to  you 
and  me.  What  says  the  Old  Book? — "They 
overcame  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb."  Let 
us  tell  their  secret  very  quietly  and  very 
simply,  without  any  waste  of  words, — 
they  shared  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
it  changed  them  into  giants.    In  some  way 


VICTORY  OVER  THE  BEAST       227 

or  other  a  communion  was  formed  between 
their  life  and  His  life,  and  His  mighty  life 
flowed  into  their  life  as  vine-blood  flows 
into  the  branch  of  the  vine.  They  shared 
the  strength  of  Him  who  fought  the  beast 
in  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  and  who  fought 
him  again  in  still  more  alluring  forms  in 
the  courts  of  Jerusalem  and  by  the  shores 
of  the  Lake  of  Galilee.  Yes,  if  you  had 
asked  these  radiant  victors  by  the  sea  of 
glass  to  tell  you  how  they  triumphed,  they 
would  have  reverently  turned  their  faces 
towards  the  Lord  and  eagerly  answered, 
"By  the  blood  of  the  Lamb!" 

"I  asked  them  whence  their  victory  came, 
They  with  united  breath 
Ascribed  their  conquest  to  the  Lamb, 
Their  triumph  to  His  death." 

And  the  second  secret  of,  their  triumph 
is  to  be  found  in  their  continual  warfare. 
They  drank  his  blood  to  fight  his  fights. 
It  is  a  fight  that  knows  no  armistice.  It 
acknowledges  no  flag  of  truce.  Eternal 
vigilance  and  eternal  struggle  is  the  price 
of  spiritual  freedom.  Life  is  warfare;  it 
is  never  parade-drill;  it  is  never  holiday 
review;  we  are  never  off  duty;  the  con- 


228    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

test  is  constant,  and  the  close  of  every  day 
records  a  victory  or  a  defeat.  Our  Master 
never  promised  his  soldiers  a  life  of  ease. 
The  beast  promises  roads  which  are  pleas- 
ant as  field  paths  that  lead  through  grassy 
meadows.  There  shall  be  no  flints,  no 
thorns,  no  briars;  and  if  we  choose,  we 
can  lie  down  in  the  meadows  morning, 
noon  and  night !  That  is  the  promise  that 
the  beast  makes, — a  promise  which  is  al- 
ways broken.  Our  Lord  always  calls  us 
to  battles,  to  noble  crusades  and  prolonged 
campaigns.  "His  blood-red  banner  streams 
afar!"  He  calls  us  to  share  the  travail 
that  makes  His  Kingdom  come.  Yes,  He 
calls  us  to  glorious,  endless  battles,  but 
He  promises  sure  and  certain  victory  if  we 
drink  His  blood  along  the  way. 

And  so  they  conquered  the  beast  by  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  They  conquered  by 
the  continual  battles  of  their  faith.  And 
lastly  they  conquered  by  their  songs  of 
victory.  They  sang  their  way  to  the  sea 
of  glass,  and  their  songs  were  songs  of 
victory  all  along  the  road.  They  did  not 
moan  in  misereres;  they  did  not  wail  in 
lamentations  as  if  the  beast  were  mightier 
than  their  Lord;     They  knew  their  Lord 


VICTORY  OVER  THE  BEAST       229 

was  mightier  than  all;  and  their  songs  of 
victory  were  the  beginning  of  their 
triumph.  0,  the  singing  that  abounds  in 
the  Word  of  God !  0,  the  singing  you  may 
hear  in  the  Acts  of  theApostles !  And,  0, 
the  singing  that  sounds  through  the  Book 
of  Revelation;  the  song  of  victory,  the 
song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb!  At  the 
battle  of  Dunbar,  in  the  great  critical  days 
of  English  freedom,  Cromwell's  troops 
sang  their  way  to  victory.  They  could 
hear  the  roaring  of  the  sea.  The  land  was 
swept  with  deluges  of  rain.  But  above  the 
roar  of  the  sea,  and  the  sound  of  the  pelt- 
ing rain,  they  lifted  their  voices  in  praise 
to  God,  and  as  they  swept  into  battle  their 
song  rang  out;  "God  is  our  refuge  and 
strength,  a  very  present  help  in  time  of 
trouble;  therefore  will  we  not  fear  if  the 
earth  be  removed  and  the  mountains  be 
shaken  in  the  heart  of  the  seas!  The 
Lord  of  Hosts  is  with  us;  the  God  of 
Jacob  is  our  refuge !"  Their  song  was  part 
of  their  armour ;  it  was  indeed  the  armour 
of  their  souls.  I  greatly  like  that  word  of 
the  Christian,  Appollinaris,  in  Ibsen's 
play, — "The  Emperor  Julian/ '  which  he 
spake  when  the  forces  of  the  beast  were 


230    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

massed  against  the  soldiers  of  the  cross ; — 
"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  so  long  as  song 
rings  out  above  our  sorrows,  Satan  shall 
never  conquer !"  Verily,  I  too  will  say  that 
our  praise  is  an  invincible  armour, — we 
sing  our  way  to  the  triumph  we  seek ! 

Men  and  women,  the  beast  can  be  con- 
quered, for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath 
spoken  it!  You  and  I  may  stand  at  the 
sea  of  glass,  pure,  transparent,  fervent 
with  divine  love,  victors  over  the  beast, 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  through 
constancy  in  battle,  and  in  songs  which 
ring  out  above  our  sorrows,  as  we  push 
along  life's  way. 

"Soldiers  of  Christ,  arise ! 
And  put  your  armour  on; 
Strong  in  the  strength  which  God  supplies 
Through  His  eternal  Son. 

From  strength  to  strength  go  on, 
Wrestle,  and  fight  and  pray; 
Tread  all  the  powers  of  darkness  down 
And  win  the  well-fought  day." 


XIV 

THE  COMING  GOLDEN 
AGE 


HOLY  FATHER,  we  thank  Thee  for  the  privilege  of  fellow* 
ship,  and  for  the  help  which  we  can  give  to  one  another.  May 
the  faith  of  everyone  be  strengthened  by  the  faith  of  all.  May 
our  penitence  be  deepened  because  we  are  all  engaged  in  com- 
mon confession.  May  our  joys  be  enriched  because  we  are  all 
contemplating  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  May  our 
obedience  become  more  devoted  because  we  all  drink  of  the 
waters  of  inspiration.  Impart  unto  us  the  grace  of  sacred 
sympathy.  May  we  reverently  bear  one  another's  burdens 
and  carry  them  in  the  arms  of  intercession.  We  beseech  Thee 
to  grant  unto  us  visions  of  Thy  glory  in  so  far  as  our  eyes 
are  able  to  bear  them.  May  we  make  new  discoveries  among 
the  mysteries  of  Thy  truth.  May  the  whole  worship  prepare  us 
for  a  larger  ministry  in  the  service  of  Thy  kingdom.  Wilt 
Thou  give  us  the  armor  we  need  for  the  great  campaign.  Espe- 
cially may  we  receive  the  endowment  of  the  love  that  never  grows 
faint.  Reveal  to  us  our  work,  and  then  lead  us  into  a  devo- 
tion which  will  never  be  satisfied  until  the  work  is  finished. 
Look  upon  the  whole  world  in  this  hour  of  desolation  and  woe. 
Enlarge  our  hearts  to  comprehend  the  sorrow,  and  may  we  share 
the  sufferings  of  our  Lord  in  sacrificial  labors.  Let  Thy  kingdom 
come,  O  Lord,  and  let  Thy  will  be  done  on  earih  as  it  is  in 
heaven.     Amen. 


XIV 

THE  COMING  GOLDEN  AGE 

"And  many  people  shall  go  up 
and  say,  Come  ye  and  let  us  go  up 
to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the 
house  of  the  God  of  Jacob;  and 
he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways,  and 
we  will  walk  in  his  paths:  for  out 
of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and 
the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusa- 
lem. And  he  shall  judge  among 
the  nations,  and  shall  rebuke  many 
people:  and  they  shall  beat  their 
swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their 
spears  into  pruninghooks:  nation 
shall  not  lift  up  sword  against 
nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war 
any  more."    Isaiah  2 :  3,  4. 

THERE  is  something  almost  unreal  in 
these  words  when  they  are  read 
aloud  in  the  times  through  which 
we  are  passing*.  They  sound  like  the  voice 
of  a  mocking-bird  calling  from  the  midst 
of  the  dust  and  the  debris  of  a  ruined 
world.  It  is  like  hearing  the  gentle  peal 
of  church  bells  on  the  bloody  field  of  bat- 

233 


234    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

tie.  It  is  like  anything  you  choose  which 
has  hecome  unreal,  and  which  has  been 
transferred  from  the  healthy  book  of  noble 
prophecy  to  the  bitter  pages  of  satire  and 
the  sour  lips  of  the  cynic.  Yes,  I  grant 
that  the  great  passage  unfolds  ideals  which 
have  become  mere  scraps  of  paper,  torn 
and  retorn  into  a  thousand  pieces,  and 
blown  about  like  withered  leaves  in  an 
autumn  gale.  What,  then,  are  we  to  do? 
I  am  reminded  of  what  Lord  Morley  said 
in  Manchester  a  few  weeks  ago.  "When 
the  war  is  ended, — this  mournful  chapter 
of  sore  bereavement  and  wasted  treasure, 
when  all  that  is  gone,  I  ask  is  there  not  a 
moral  loss  which  ought  to  be  counted,  a 
moral  loss  in  the  wreck  of  ideals  in  which 
the  men  of  my  generation  were  deeply 
concerned?  That  loss  has  got  to  be 
counted  and  retrieved.  The  fabric  of  those 
ideals  has  to  be  built  up  again  in  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  men  and  women." 
Surely  that  is  an  opportune  word,  and  it 
offers  both  counsel  and  warning  to  the 
Christian  Church.  We  must  not  just  sit 
down  in  the  bloody  dust,  and  wail  our  mis- 
ereres in  deadly  impotence.  We  have  got  to 
reconstruct  the  ruined  pile,  and  we  must 


THE  COMING  GOLDEN  AGE       235 

begin  the  reconstruction  by  rebuilding  the 
golden  palace  of  our  dreams. 

And  if  we  are  going  to  rear  again  that 
stately  temple  of  vision  and  dream,  who 
can  give  us  nobler  help  than  the  Hebrew 
prophets,  and  who  among  the  prophets 
can  help  us  more  than  Isaiah?  Isaiah 
was  a  prophet  interpreting  the  mind 
of  God.  He  was  a  statesman  with  a 
keen  and  comprehensive  outlook  on  human 
affairs.  He  was  also  a  poet  bringing  to 
human  problems  the  illuminating  imagina- 
tion of  the  seer.  He  lived  in  a  time  of 
grave  national  disloyalties,  a  time  when 
peoples  were  abandoning  their  most  sacred 
trust.  His  were  days  of  international 
strife  and  convulsion,  days  witnessing 
vast  world  movements  in  which  empires 
were  seen  at  their  birth,  and  empires  were 
seen  in  withering  decline  and  death.  Isaiah 
was  a  man  whose  thought  was  distin- 
guished by  breadth  and  depth  and  length. 
He  saw  things  broadly,  he  saw  things 
deeply,  and  he  also  saw  the  things  which 
gleamed  afar.  And  as  he  looked  out 
upon  the  world  to  his  vision  the  troubled 
and  chaotic  day  merged  into  a  reconsti- 
tuted order  of  active  concord  and  peace. 


236    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

Isaiah  was  a  confirmed  optimist.  He  had 
a  keen  sense  of  the  future.  He  felt  the 
days  before  him.  He  could  scent  the  wav- 
ing harvest  while  yet  the  snow  was  on  the 
ground.  He  could  catch  the  sound  of 
harvest-home  while  the  wintry  wind  was 
whistling  across  the  ice-bound  field.  And 
looking  out  over  the  dark  scene  of  con- 
vulsion and  disaster,  and  amid  the  rude 
and  brutal  clamour  of  international  strife, 
he  sang  this  song  of  the  morning, — "They 
shall  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares, 
and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks ; 
nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  na- 
tion, neither  shall  they  learn  war  any 
more."  If  we  are  purposing  to  rebuild 
the  fallen  ideals  of  our  own  day,  and  so 
reconstruct  our  common  life,  can  we  do 
better  than  stand  near  this  man  for  guid- 
ance and  inspiration? 

How,  then,  does  this  man  say  that  the 
golden  dream  is  to  be  realized?  Through 
what  preparatory  stages  are  we  to  pass 
before  we  reach  the  shining  consumma- 
tion? Isaiah  declares  that  the  fulfilment 
of  the  dream  is  "to  begin  in  the  profound 
revival  of  spiritual  religion.  "It  shall 
come  to  pass  in  the  latter  days  that  the 


THE  COMING  GOLDEN  AGE       237 

mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be 
established  at  the  head  of  the  mountains, 
and  shall  be  exalted  above  the  hills."  That 
is  to  say,  the  dominant  peak  in  the  recon- 
structed landscape  is  to  be  a  shining 
spirituality  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion. 
Man's  relationship  to  God  is  to  be  the 
supreme  relation  overtopping  and  over- 
seeing everything  else.  "And  many  peo- 
ples shall  say,  Come  ye,  and  let  us  go 
up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the 
house  of  the  God  of  Jacob,  and  He  will 
teach  us  of  His  ways,  and  we  will  walk 
in  His  paths."  That  is  to  say,  in  the 
golden  age  this  is  to  be  the  common  aspi- 
ration; spiritual  desire  and  spiritual  am- 
bition are  to  be  dominant;  the  biggest 
thing  in  life  is  to  be  the  yearning  for  the 
divine  communion,  the  gladsome  craving 
for  fellowship  in  the  heavenly  quest.  That 
is  how  the  golden  dream  is  to  begin  to 
be  fulfilled;  it  is  to  begin  in  the  recovery 
of  vital  worship,  in  the  profound  revival 
of  spiritual  religion. 

Now,  all  the  best  things  can  be 
mimicked  in  the  cheapest  counterfeits! 
Pearls  can  be  so  skilfully  manufactured 
that  even  the  expert  eye  can  be  deceived. 


238    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

There  are  diamonds  about,  common  as 
window  glass,  and  their  dancing  gleams 
can  delude  the  very  elect.  Yes,  the  best 
things  can  be  cleverly  imitated,  and  their 
counterfeits  can  move  unsuspected  in  the 
most  exalted  places.  It  would  be  an  amus- 
ing trait,  if  it  were  not  a  tragic  charac- 
teristic of  human  nature,  how  willing  we 
are  to  borrow  the  clothes  of  realities,  and 
just  strut  about  in  our  cheap  and  glitter- 
ing attire.  And  it  is  so  easily  done !  Any- 
body can  borrow  the  jolly  meters  of  Rud- 
yard  Kipling  and  put  their  own  tawdry 
stuff  into  his  caskets ;  and  a  thousand  peo- 
ple have  done  it!  Anybody  can  borrow 
the  disorderly  irregularities  of  Walt  Whit- 
man, and  into  his  eccentric  bottles  they 
can  pour  their  own  cheap  wine ;  and  crowds 
of  people  have  done  it!  It  is  so  easy  to 
borrow  clothes,  and  bottles,  and  outer 
forms.  Yes,  and  it  is  so  easy  to  borrow 
the  outer  garments  of  religion  and  to  move 
about  in  the  mere  trappings  of  devotion. 
We  can  borrow  the  sacramental  cup  and 
put  into  it  the  thinnest  and  the  most 
diluted  wine  of  life:  Our  apparent  re- 
ligion can  be  just  an  affair  of  clothes,  a 
borrowed  skin,  an  acted  thing,  a  play,  a 


THE  COMING  GOLDEN  AGE       239 

theatricality  with  feigned  postures  and 
emotions,  altogether  devoid  of  blood-red 
life,  «and  having  no  deep  and  vital  com- 
merce with  the  Infinite.  Religion  can  be 
conventional,  having  no  inner  sanction  of 
fine  awe  and  godly  fear.  We  can  get  re- 
ligion while  all  the  time  religion  has  not 
got  us.  It  can  be  just  a  light  perform- 
ance, a  social  convention  and  not  a  solemn 
travail  in  which  the  soul  is  doing  great 
business  in  deep  waters  in  communion 
with  the  eternal  God. 

Now,  is  not  this  the  religious  condition 
into  which  the  world  has  drifted  in  these 
latter  days?  I  do  not  make  exception 
of  any  country,  not  even  of  America. 
This  country  is  delivered  from  the  horrors 
of  the  European  convulsion,  not  by  a  sep- 
arating gulf  of  moral  and  spiritual  con- 
dition, but  by  3,000  miles  of  sea.  If  the 
coast  line  of  America  had  been  twTenty-five 
miles  from  the  coast  of  Europe  she 
would  have  been  involved  in  the  woes  of 
the  boiling  cauldron.  And  therefore  do 
I  put  the  inclusive  question, — and  I  ven- 
ture to  challenge  your  judgments, — is  not 
the  religious  condition  which  I  have  sug- 
gested one  into  which  the   entire   Chris- 


240    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

tian  world  appears  to  have  fallen?  Mul- 
titudes of  Christian  people  are  just 
wearing  the  clothes  of  religion.  We  have 
religious  professions  without  spiritual 
possessions.  We  have  religious  conven- 
tionality without  devotional  vitality.  We 
have  the  show  without  the  life.  We  have 
the  skin  of  religion  without  its  sacrificial 
heart.  We  have  the  crucifix  without  the 
Saviour.  We  have  the  altar  but  not  the 
open  heaven. 

You  may  make  the  test  in  any  way  you 
please.  Let  us  test  our  condition  by  any 
one  of  the  primary  characteristics  of  true 
and  vital  religion.  Let  us  apply  one  test. 
Let  us  test  our  condition  by  our  own  secret 
and  personal  communion  with  the  Lord. 
I  am  speaking  in  a  Christian  church,  and 
I  am  addressing  professedly  Christian 
people;  well,  how  do  we  stand  the  test? 
What  proportion  of  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  this  country  have  a 
really  living  and  fruitful  fellowship  with 
God?  How  many  have  walked  the  way 
of  communion  so  frequently  that  it  is  now 
a  much-beloved  and  well-trodden  road, 
along  which  they  can  easily  and  naturally 
make  their  way  in  the  dark,  yea,  even  in 


THE  COMING  GOLDEN  AGE       241 

the  stormy  midnight  when  the  floods  are 
out,  and  the  tempest  howls  about  their 
ways? 

For  we  cannot  have  religion  with  God 
wiped  out!  If  religion  is  only  benefi- 
cence, if  it  is  only  decent,  respectable 
living,  if  it  is  only  a  comfortable  con- 
formity with  accepted  social  standards, 
— if  that  is  all  it  is,  then  let  us  say 
so  and  have  done  with  it.  Let  us  pull 
down  our  altars  and  fling  their  useless 
stones  to  the  winds.  But  this  is  not 
religion.  True  religion  is  more  than  this. 
True  religion  is  the  reverent  and  most 
solemn  recognition  of  the  eternal  God.  It 
is  the  conscious  prostration  of  the  soul  in 
His  most  holy  Presence.  It  is  the  free 
because  reverent  fellowship  of  a  child  with 
the  Father.  It  is  the  loyal  acceptance  of 
the  Father's  will.  It  is  the  humble  re- 
ception of  His  grace  as  offered  to  us  in 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  It  is  the  assump- 
tion of  our  life  as  a  sacred  trust  accepted 
from  the  hands  of  God;  It  is  the  antici- 
pation cf  His  glory  in  our  eternal  home. 
Religion  has  great  human  relationships 
with  our  fellowman,  and  these  shall  not  be 
overlooked.     But  for  the  moment,  I  am 


242    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

speaking  of  the  fontal  relationship  of  the 
soul  with  God,  that  fundamental  fellow- 
ship in  which  all  other  worthy  fellowships 
are  born,  and  I  ask  you  whether  all  the 
peoples  of  all  professing  Christian  nations 
have  not  wandered  far  from  the  vitalizing 
bond  of  this  primary  communion?  Let 
your  eyes  roam  over  the  darkened  world; 
dense  clouds  are  still  rising  everywhere 
on  the  ominous  horizon.  How  is  that 
night-time  to  be  turned  into  day,  yea,  into 
a  day  like  unto  a  lovely  summer's  morn- 
ing? Here  is  the  answer  of  the  greatest 
of  the  prophets  when  he,  too,  was  con- 
fronted with  tempest  and  night; — the  first 
thing  we  have  to  pray  for,  and  work  for, 
and  seek  for,  in  every  Christian  country, 
is  a  profound  revival  of  spiritual  religion, 
when  "the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house 
shall  be  established  at  the  head  of  the 
mountains,  and  when  many  peoples  shall 
say,  Let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the 
Lord,  and  He  will  teach  us  of  His  ways, 
and  we  will  walk  in  His  paths."  This,  I 
say,  is  needed  in  every  country,  until  in 
every  country  all  who  profess  the  Sa- 
viour 's  name  shall  cry  out  in  the  fervour  of 
a  great  and  quenchless  desire, — "As  tiu> 


THE  COMING  GOLDEN  AGE       243 

hart  panteth  after  the  water  brook,   so 
panteth  my  soul  after  Thee,  0  God!" 

Now  look  at  the  second  stage  in  the  real- 
ization of  the  golden  dream.  "He  will 
teach  us  of  His  ways,  and  we  will  walk 
in  His  paths.  .  .  .  And  He  shall  judge 
between  the  nations.' '  That  is  to  say,  a 
profound  revival  of  spiritual  religion  will 
be  accompanied  by  loftier  and  more  exact- 
ing moral  standards.  He  will  teach  and  we 
will  walk.  Morals  always  grow  lax  when 
piety  gets  cool.  When  religion  becomes 
a  mere  conventionality,  morality  always 
loses  its  awful  sanctions:  Wipe  out  God 
and  your  moral  standards  will  surely  fall. 
If  I  neglect  the  temperature  of  my  green- 
house, or  if  I  play  fast  and  loose  with  it, 
my  tender  plants  will  assuredly  droop. 
And  if  I  neglect  my  spiritual  temperature, 
which  is  the  climate  of  my  soul,  my  moral 
and  spiritual  flowers  will  be  smitten  and 
pinched.  We  cannot  lower  our  spirituality 
and  yet  have  our  morality  keep  its  win- 
some bloom.  Let  me  ask  you, — have  you 
ever  known  anyone  grow  loose  and  care- 
less in  their  religion,  and  at  the  same  time 
become  correspondingly  nobler  and  purer, 
and  more  scrupulously  faithful  in  their 


244    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

daily  life?  Have  you  ever  known  anyone 
drop  Christ  and  then  become  more  like 
Him?  Have  you  ever  had  occasion  to 
whisper  this  secret  concerning  any  living 
woman, — "0,  yes,  she  broke  off  commu- 
nion with  Christ,  and  then  she  put  on 
moral  grace  and  beauty  like  a  robe  f ' '  The 
very  question  is  an  insult  to  our  intelli- 
gence, as  it  is  an  affront  to  our  experi- 
ence; for  this  is  the  eternal  law,  whose 
workings  can  be  witnessed  every  day, — 
when  the  spirit  deteriorates  the  moral  life 
becomes  diseased. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  there  be  an 
enrichment  in  vital  godliness  and  our  con- 
duct will  begin  to  shine  like  burnished 
gold.  "He  will  teach,' '  says  the  prophet, 
"and  we  will  walk."  He,  with  Whom  we 
hold  vital  communion,  He  will  be  the 
teacher  of  the  spirit,  and  the  illuminant 
of  the  conscience  and  the  inspiration  of 
the  will;  a  nobler  conduct  will  be  born  of 
that  fellowship  as  surely  as  the  choicest 
grapes  are  the  children  of  the  healthiest 
vines.  When  we  are  all  in  living  and  deep 
communion  with  Christ,  truly  worshipping 
in  the  innermost  secret  place, — English, 
and  German,  and  American,  and  Japan- 


THE  COMING  GOLDEN  AGE       245 

ese, — a  finer  spirit  of  judgment  will  be 
abroad  in  the  earth,  a  healthier  moral 
climate,  and  we  shall  naturally  and  in- 
stinctively seek  to  do  what  Jesus  did,  and 
in  the  way  that  Jesus  did  it,  when  He  came 
and  dwelt  among  us  as  a  carpenter's  Son, 
Son  of  Mary,  Son  of  Man,  Son  of  God! 

Only  one  thing  remains  to  be  said  as  to 
the  process  by  which  the  radiant  dream  of 
the  prophet  is  to  be  fulfilled.  When  there 
has  come  a  profound  revival  of  spiritual 
religion,  and,  consequently,  a  loftier  and 
more  exacting  moral  standard,  there  will 
be  a  wonderful  conversion  of  destructive 
forces  in  the  personal  and  national  life. 
"They  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plough- 
shares and  their  spears  into  pruning- 
hooks."  I  want  you  carefully  to  notice 
that  the  sword  is  not  to  be  destroyed;  it 
is  to  be  transformed;  it  is  to  become  a 
ploughshare:  The  spear  is  not  to  be  broken 
and  thrown  away;  it  is  to  be  converted 
into  a  pruning-hook.  That  is  to  say,  the 
rudely  destructive  energies  in  human  life 
are  to  be  changed  into  constructive  ener- 
gies. What  was  darkly  negative  is  to  be- 
come brightly  positive.  Tug  martial  is  to 
be   transformed  into   the  pastoral.     The 


246    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

rude  implement  of  slaughter  is  to  become 
the  breaker  of  the  earth-clod  or  the  help- 
ful friend  of  the  vine.  "They  shall  beat 
their  swords  into  ploughshares  and  their 
spears  into  pruning-hooks. ' !  After  the 
first  historic  siege  of  Antwerp,  the  cannon 
balls  were  taken  and  converted  into  church 
bells;  and  may  the  gracious  and  holy 
Lord  grant  that  there  may  speedily  come 
such  a  transformation  in  modern  Ant- 
werp, when  all  the  ministers  of  carnage 
shall  be  changed  into  sweet  and  sacred 
ministers  of  worship  and  devotion ! 

But  now,  if  swords  are  to  be  beaten 
into  ploughshares  and  spears  into  prun- 
ing-hooks, where  must  that  work  begin? 
It  must  begin  in  the  individual  heart. 
We  are  never  going  to  get  the  swords 
out  of  the  nations  until  we  have  got 
them  out  of  the  hearts.  There  is  a  sword 
in  the  heart,  a  cruel  sword,  a  minister 
of  destruction.  There  is  a  sword  in 
the  German  heart,  and  a  sword  in  the 
English  heart,  and  a  sword  in  the  Amer- 
ican heart,  and  that  sword  has  got  to  be 
transformed  before  the  material  sword  can 
become  a  ploughshare  of  the  field!  We 
are   all   familiar  with   our   own   swords; 


THE  COMING  GOLDEN  AGE       247 

perhaps  I  had  better  say,  we  are  all 
acquainted  with  one  another's  swords. 
There  is  the  sword  of  ill-will.  There  is 
the  spear  of  deadly  gossip.  There  is  the 
sword  of  evil  prejudice.  There  is  the  spear 
of  petty  spite  and  contempt.  Yea,  surely 
there  is  a  sordid  armoury  in  the  soul.  And 
this  has  to  be  converted  into  a  tool-house 
of  a  noble  Christian  culture  before  the 
material  armouries  can  be  emptied  and  the 
sound  of  war  is  heard  no  more. 

And  therefore,  the  great  national  revo- 
lution is  to  begin  in  individual  conver- 
sions, and  these  are  to  be  the  children  of 
a  vital  and  saving  religion.  The  transfor- 
mation of  the  world  is  to  begin  in  the  con- 
version of  people  like  you  and  me.  There 
is  no  other  way.  "When  our  own  militar- 
istic armour,  the  one  stored  in  our  own 
soul,  is  changed  into  a  garden  tool-house, 
— malice  changed  into  good-will,  suspicion 
into  enlightened  understanding,  cynicism 
into  genial  and  gracious  esteem,  and  foul 
hatred  into  Christ's  own  strong  and  fruit- 
ful love,  then  we  are  bringing  the  day 
nearer  of  which  the  herald  angels  sang, 
when  there  shall  be  "  peace  on  earth  and 
good  will  among  mem" 


248    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

All  this  cannot  be  done  by  scholarship. 
We  cannot  do  if  by  legislation.  We  can- 
not do  it  by  commerce.  It  is  the  vital 
work  of  salvation,  and  it  only  can  be  done 
by  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  And  He 
must  do  it  in  His  own  way,  and  His  work 
must  be  thorough,  profound,  fundamental. 
He  must  search  the  very  cellarings  of  our 
being,  seeking  out  our  wickednesses  as 
with  a  candle,  and  cleansing  and  purifying 
us  in  the  deepest  and  most  secret  rooms 
of  the  soul.  And  when  we  thus  come  to 
know  our  Saviour,  we  shall  most  surely 
come  to  know  our  brother,  for  we  shall 
see  him  with  ourselves  in  the  radiant  light 
of  the  same  eternal  grace  and  love.  Then 
will  our  swords  be  beaten  into  plough- 
shares and  our  spears  into  pruning-hooks 
and  we  shall  learn  war  no  more! 


XV 

MORE  THAN  CON- 
QUERORS 


HEAVENLY  FATHER,  wilt  Thou  graciously  redeem  us 
from  any  perilous  mood  of  independence  which  sets  our  wills 
against  Thine.  Help  us  to  find  ourselves  in  Thee,  and  to 
come  to  our  inheritance  in  the  riches  of  Thy  grace.  Give 
us  that  lowliness  of  spirit  which  will  enable  us  to  find  the  gate 
of  higher  life  and  to  enter  in.  Forgive  the  sin  that  binds  our 
judgment  and  enable  us  through  a  pure  heart  to  see  ourselves 
in  Christ,  and  to  behold  ourselves  perfected  in  the  power  of  His 
love.  Save  us  from  low  ideals.  Lift  us  out  of  the  thoughts 
that  belittle  us  and  which  check  and  destroy  our  powers  of 
growth.  Give  us  wider  and  deeper  conceptions  of  all  things. 
May  the  experiences  of  our  life  come  to  us  as  helpful  disci- 
plines, through  which  we  may  apprehend  more  of  Thy  purpose, 
and  more  swiftly  put  on  the  likeness  of  our  Lord.  May  we  not 
be  mastered  by  our  circumstances,  but  may  we  be  so  strong 
in  Thy  strength,  that  every  circumstance  may  be  our  servant, 
adding  some  fresh  grace  to  our  spirits,  and  some  new  influence 
to  our  lives.  May  we  lose  the  things  we  ought  not  to  keep, 
and  may  we  desire  the  things  we  ought  to  find.  Control  us, 
O  Lord,  by  Thy  spirit,  taking  us  away  from  the  shallows  of 
common  life  into  the  great  deep  privileges  of  communion  with 
Thee.     Amen. 


XV 
MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS 

"In  all  these  things,  we  are  more 
than  conquerors."    Rom.  8 :  37. 

WAS  the  writer  of  these  words  him- 
self a  conqueror!  To  whom  is 
he  making  the  proud  boast?  He 
is  writing  his  letter  to  the  people  of  Rome. 
And  it  is  in  this  letter  to  Rome  that  the 
apostle  claims  to  be  a  conqueror.  If  he 
had  been  writing  to  a  little  company  of 
people  living  in  some  quiet  and  remote 
district  in  Asia  Minor,  far  away  from  the 
movement  and  pageantry  of  imperial  life, 
his  boast  of  being  a  conqueror  might  have 
been  received  without  surprise.  But  think 
of  the  daring  of  making  his  claim  in  a 
letter  to  the  Romans,  who  were  accustomed 
to  gaze  upon  their  conquerors  as  they  re- 
turned in  glory  from  triumphant  wars  of 
conquest,  dragging  their  distinguished 
captives  at  their  chariot  wheels!     When 

251 


252    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

the  apostle  claims  to  be  a  conqueror  he  is 
using  a  word  which  to  the  Romans  is 
weighted  with  pomp  and  glory,  suggesting 
cities  ablaze  with  emblems  of  festivity,  and 
streets  thronged  with  cheering  multitudes, 
and  a  hero  upon  whom  favours  are  being 
showered  thick  as  the  flowers  which  are 
flung  upon  his  triumphal  car.  When  Paul 
dares  to  call  himself  a  conqueror  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  Romans  he  is  using  a  word  sig- 
nificant of  all  this  wealth  and  effulgence, 
and  he  is  using  it  to  describe  the  pas- 
sage of  his  own  life  down  the  ways  of 
time.  "We  are  more  than  conquerors." 
Such  a  claim  would  surely  strike  the 
Roman  reader  with  amazement. 

WTiat  was  there  in  the  apostle's  life  to 
correspond  to  the  claim?  What  was  there 
about  it  which  in  any  way  recalled  the 
radiant  entry  of  an  acclaimed  warrior  into 
the  festive  city  of  Rome?  Let  us  glance 
at  the  external  circumstances  of  his  Chris- 
tian life.  Is  there  anything  in  these  cir- 
cumstances of  pomp,  and  flowers,  and 
favour,  and  acclamation?  Run  your  eye 
over  the  apostle's  road.  What  are  its 
features?  What  is  it  like  as  it  stretches 
from  Damascus  to  Rome?    In  peril  of  his 


MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS        253 

life  in  Damascus,  his  enemies  watching  the 
gates  day  and  night  to  kill  him;  coldly 
suspected  by  his  fellow-believers  in  Jeru- 
salem ;  persecuted  at  Antioch ;  assaulted  in 
Iconium;  stoned  in  Lystra;  beaten  with 
many  stripes  in  Philippi;  attacked  by  a 
lewd  and  envious  crowd  in  Thessalonica ; 
pursued  by  callous  enmity  in  Berea;  de- 
spised in  Athens;  blasphemed  in  Corinth 
and  dragged  before  the  judgment-seat ;  ex- 
posed to  the  fierce  wrath  of  the  Ephesians ; 
bound  with  chains  in  Jerusalem,  and  finally 
imprisoned  at  Rome!  Such  is  the  char- 
acter of  his  cold,  storm-swept,  painful  road. 
And  yet  he  dares  to  call  himself  a  con- 
queror, and  to  so  style  himself  to  the  men 
of  imperial  Rome!  When  I  turn  away 
from  the  gay  and  rapturous  streets, 
through  which  the  Roman  conqueror  made 
his  tumultuous  entry,  and  then  gaze  on  the 
long,  dark,  cruel  road  on  which  this  man 
trudged  throughout  all  his  public  days,  his 
life  seems  to  be  broken  up  in  successive 
tragedies,  and  to  sink  at  last  in  the  black 
defeat  of  utter  and  complete  eclipse.  And 
yet  he  sings  aloud  in  joyful  pride:  ""We 
are  more  than  conquerors"!  Where,  then, 
shall  we  look  for  the  signs  of  conquest, 


254    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

and  for  the  waving  banners,  and  the  rap- 
turous shouts? 

There  are  two  ways  of  estimating  a 
triumphant  life.  We  may  trace  the  line  of 
external  circumstances,  and  we  make  an 
inventory  of  the  material  treasures,  and 
the  flattering  diplomas,  and  the  public 
honours  that  have  been  gained  along  the 
way.  That  road  winds  by  the  bank,  and 
the  Stock  Exchange,  through  Wall  Street, 
or  Threadneedle  Street,  and  thence  it 
stretches  away  through  fair  suburbs  of 
material  comforts,  and  through  gardens 
of  enticing  ease,  ascending  even  to  lofty 
eminences  of  public  favour  and  regard.  We 
may  walk  along  this  road  in  our  desire  to 
estimate  a  man's  standing,  and  to  reckon 
the  degree  and  quality  of  his  conquests. 
And  judged  by  that  standard  Paul's  cir- 
cumstances were  disastrous,  and  his  life 
was  just  a  dismal  succession  of  appalling 
defeats.  Indeed  the  apostle  himself  has 
given  his  own  verdict  upon  his  life  when 
it  is  judged  by  the  standard  of  Wall 
Street,  and  he  has  done  it  in  two  words  of 
pregnant  and  sweeping  brevity — "  hav- 
ing nothing"!  And  yet  he  claimed  to  be 
"more  than  conqueror"! 


MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS        255 

But  there  is  another  way  of  judging  the 
failure  or  triumph  of  a  life.  We  may  fol- 
low the  line  of  character.  We  may  regis- 
ter the  success  of  the  soul  in  its  mastery 
of  circumstances,  in  its  refusal  to  be  sub- 
merged by  evil  antagonisms,  in  its  preser- 
vation of  a  diamond-like  translucency  amid 
engulfing  floods  of  defilement,  in  its  buoy- 
ancy in  the  days  of  prolonged  disappoint- 
ment, in  its  quiet  and  firm  ascendency 
over  the  beast,  in  its  inevitable  emergence 
from  every  kind  of  hostility  in  increasing 
majesty  and  strength.  These  are  the  two 
lines  of  investigation.  These  are  the  pos- 
sible criteria  of  judgment.  On  the  one 
hand  we  may  measure  the  success  of  a  life 
by  the  progressive  enrichment  of  circum- 
stances; on  the  other  hand  we  may  esti- 
mate its  conquests  by  the  progressive 
growth  of  the  soul.  We  may  make  our 
valuation  in  the  material  world  or  in  the 
spiritual  world;  that  is  to  say,  we  may 
value  the  man  or  we  may  value  his  posses- 
sions. 

Now  the  circumstantial  happenings  in  a 
life  had  little  or  no  interest  for  the  apostle 
Paul.  All  his  concern  followed  the  inward 
line  of  the  spirit*.     He  kept  his  eyes  on 


\ 


256    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

spiritual  processes  and  never  on  material 
results.  He  did  not  busy  himself  with  a 
man's  happenings;  he  busied  himself  with 
the  effect  of  the  happenings  on  the  man. 
Always  and  everywhere  he  pressed 
through  condition  to  character;  his 
thought  always  took  the  short  cut  to 
the  soul*.  If  in  the  streets  of  Rome 
or  of  Ephesus  you  had  pointed  out  to 
him  some  rich  man,  Paul  would  have 
immediately  leaped  the  adjective  and 
inquired  about  the  noun.  He  would 
have  had  no  interest  whatever  in  the 
man's  riches;  riches  are  no  criterion 
of  triumph;  but  he  would  have  been  de- 
vouringly interested  in  what  the  riches  had 
done  with  the  man.  While  the  man  has 
been  making  riches,  what  have  riches  made 
of  the  man?  Measure  the  man!  Is  the 
man  who  is  within  the  riches  a  victor  or  a 
victim,  a  noble  master  or  a  poor  ignoble 
slave. 

And  so  also  do  I  believe  that  if  you  had 
pointed  out  to  the  apostle  some  poor  man, 
he  would  have  left  the  adjective  and  fixed 
upon  the  noun.  What  about  the  man  inside 
the  poverty?  What  about  the  soul  so  ill- 
housed  in  indigence?     Is  the  soul  royal 


MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS        257 

or  servile?  Is  it  crouching  or  has  it  a 
noble  and  stately  rectitude?  That  would 
be  the  concern  of  the  apostle  Paul.  He 
would  get  behind  the  riches  to  the  man. 
He  would  get  behind  the  poverty  to  the 
man1.  For  every  external  happening  or 
every  material  possession  is  only  a  house, 
and  within  the  happening  there  is  the  man 
or  the  woman,  the  tenant  of  the  house. 
What  about  them  f  What  about  the  quality 
of  their  manliness  or  womanliness!  That 
was  the  apostle's  line  of  investigation. 
The  apostle  Paul  was  not  much  concerned 
about  the  character  of  the  road,  whether 
it  was  bare  or  flowery,  but  he  was  vitally 
concerned  wiih  the  spiritual  condition  of 
the  traveller.  How  is  it  with  the  pilgrim 
soul?  What  spiritual  conquests  has  the 
soul  made  along  the  road?  That  is  the 
apostle's  standard  of  measurement,  and  by 
its  records  he  registers  life's  conquests  or 
defeats. 

Well,  then,  what  was  the  quality  of  his 
own  life  when  it  is  measured  by  these  in- 
terior standards  ?  For,  after  all,  these  are 
the  only  standards  worth  naming,  as  in 
our  sober  and  thoughtful  moments  we  all 
very  well  know.    We  are  not  here  to  make 


258    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

fortunes,  we  are  here  to  grow  souls.  How 
then  does  the  apostle  bear  the  supreme  test 
of  his  ov^a  spiritual  standards?  Is  he 
master  or  slave?  Are  the  streets  of  his 
soul  festive  with  triumph,  or  are  they  dull 
and  cheerless  in  defeat?  Is  he  more  than 
conqueror? 

Let  us  begin  the  test  with  a  day  when 
his  external  circumstances  were  brilliant. 
Brilliant  days  came  but  rarely  to  the 
apostle  Paul;  they  were  as  infrequent  as 
oases  in  Sahara's  thirsty  waste.  Test  him 
then  on  one  of  his  rare,  brilliant  days,  for 
the  dazzling  circumstance  is  often  our  se- 
verest test.  Some  souls  shrivel  in  the 
bright  sunshine.  They  grow  less  in  their 
enlarging  circumstances  as  some  nut- 
kernels  contract  in  the  expanding  shell. 
Here  is  Paul  on  a  great  day,  when  by  the 
mighty  grace  of  God  he  has  made  an  im- 
potent man  to  walk.  How  is  the  deed  re- 
garded? What  does  the  crowd  think  about 
him?  Listen  to  the  records:  "And  when 
the  people  saw  what  Paul  had  done,  they 
lifted  up  their  voices,  saying  in  the  speech 
of  Lycaonia,  The  gods  are  come  down  to 
us  in  the  likeness  of  men.  And  they  called 
Barnabas,  Jupiter;  and  Paul,  Mercuriusf 


MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS        259 

because  he  was  the  chief  speaker.  Then 
the  priest  of  Jupiter,  which  was  before 
their  city,  brought  oxen  and  garlands  unto 
the  gates,  and  would  have  done  sacrifice 
with  the  people.' '  How  now?  The  public 
favour  is  dazzling!  What  about  the  man 
inside  the  dazzling  happenings?  Is  the 
man  contracting  in  pride  or  is  his  soul 
expanding  in  humility?  " Which,  when  the 
apostles,  Barnabas  and  Paul,  heard  of,  they 
rent  their  clothes,  and  ran  in  among  the 
people,  crying  out,  and  saying,  Sirs,  why 
do  ye  these  things?  We  also  are  men  of 
like  passions  with  you,  and  preach  unto 
you  that  ye  should  turn  from  these  vanities 
unto  the  living  God,  which  made  heaven, 
and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  all  things  that 
are  therein.' '  Do  you  mark  that?  This 
man  shines  in  the  sunshine.  Popular  favour 
made  him  kneel  before  his  God,  and  God's 
gentleness  made  him  great.  The  circum- 
stances did  not  lessen  him.  His  soul  did 
not  shrivel  and  wither  in  the  popular  blaze. 
His  soul  grew  larger,  and  the  man  mas- 
tered his  circumstances;  he  was  bigger 
than  his  blazing  fate,  he  was  "more  than 
conqueror." 
But  I  have  said  that  brilliant  days  were 


260    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

rare  with  the  apostle  Paul:  Let  us  test 
him,  then,  when  his  days  were  frowning, 
when  the  clouds  were  lowering,  and  when 
his  circumstances  nipped  him  like  the 
winter  frosts.  Does  his  soul  expand  in  the 
winter,  or  does  it  shrink  like  frost-bitten 
fruit!  Take  this  little  glimpse  of  one  of 
his  days:  "And  there  came  to  Lystra 
certain  Jews  from  Antioch  and  Iconium, 
who  persuaded  the  people,  and,  having 
stoned  Paul,  drew  him  out  of  the  city,  sup- 
posing he  had  been  dead."  Having  stoned 
Paul,  they  dragged  him  out  of  the  city. 
How  swift  and  red  is  the  record!  Did  he 
grow  hard  in  the  stoning?  Did  he  become 
small  and  petty  and  peevish  and  revenge- 
ful? Let  me  read  to  you:  "And  when 
they  had  preached  the  gospel  to  that  city, 
and  had  taught  many,  they  returned  again 
to  Lystra,  and  to  Iconium,  and  Antioch, 
confirming  the  souls  of  the  disciples,  and 
exhorting  them  to  continue  in  the  faith, 
and  that  we  must  through  much  tribula- 
tion enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God. ' '  This 
man's  fruit  grew  sweeter  at  the  touch  of 
the  frost.  This  soul  grew  larger  in  the 
season  of  apparent  defeat.  He  was  "more 
than  conqueror." 


MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS        261 

Look  again  through  this  window*.  Here 
is  a  very  dark  and  bitter  happening :  "  And 
when  they  had  laid  many  stripes  upon 
them,  they  cast  them  into  prison,  charging 
the  jailer  to  keep  them  safely:  who,  hav- 
ing received  such  a  charge,  thrust  them 
into  the  inner  prison,  and  made  their  feet 
fast  in  the  stocks.' '  How  now?  Will  this 
man  Paul  scowl  in  the  darkness  ?  Will  his 
magnanimity  sour  into  the  bitter  mood  of 
revenge?  Listen  to  the  record:  "And  at 
midnight  Paul  and  Silas  prayed,  and  sang 
praises  unto  God :  and  the  prisoners  heard 
them."  Do  you  mark  that?  This  man 
was  a  victim  but  he  was  also  a  victor.  We 
almost  forget  his  sufferings  in  the  sound 
of  his  praise.  Adversity  did  not  rob  him 
of  his  crown.  He  was  "more  than  con- 
queror. ' ' 

And  so  I  might  go  on  introducing  in- 
stance after  instance,  in  every  record  of 
his  turbulent  life,  showing  how  he  attained 
to  magnificent  mastery  in  the  spirit.  When 
Paul  speaks  of  being  a  " conqueror"  he 
means  that  he  is  on  the  top  of  his  circum- 
stances and  not  beneath  them.  To  be  more 
than  conqueror  is  to  be  on  the  top  of  your 
wealth  and  not  beneath  it;  to  be  on  the 


232    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

top  of  your  poverty  and  not  beneath  it: 
to  be  on  the  top  of  your  joy  and  not  be- 
neath it;  to  be  on  the  top  of  your  sorrow 
and  not  beneath  it;  to  be  on  the  top  of 
your  disappointment  and  not  beneath  it. 
To  be  more  than  conqueror  is  to  be  on  the 
top  of  the  old  serpent,  and,  as  Browning 
says,  to  stand  upon  him  and  to  feel  him 
wriggle  beneath  your  feet!  The  real  con- 
queror, the  only  one  worthy  of  that  royal 
name,  is  he  who  makes  every  circumstance 
his  subject,  permitting  no  circumstance  to 
be  the  lord  and  master  of  his  soul.  He  is 
"more  than  conqueror.' ' 

And  what  is  the  secret  of  such  conquest? 
Here  is  the  secret:  "We  are  more  than 
conquerors  through  Christ  that  loved  us." 
It  is  conquest  through  the  energy  of  an 
imparted  love.  Nay,  it  is  much  more  than 
that.  It  is  conquest  through  humble  yet 
intimate  communion  with  the  eternal 
Lover.  You  remember  what  conquests  the 
knights  of  the  olden  time  could  achieve 
when  they  were  conscious  that  love-eyes 
were  fixed  upon  them  in  the  jousts.  And 
if  this  were  so  with  knights  of  ancient 
chivalry,  when  love  inspired  them  in  the 
fray,  how  infinitely  more  must  it  be  so  with 


MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS       263 

the  knights  of  King  Jesus'  Order  when 
they  know  that  the  love-eyes  of  the  Lord 
are  always  fixed  upon  them  in  the  field! 
"He  loved  me"  sings  the  greatest  of  the 
apostolic  knights.  "He  loved  me  and  gave 
Himself  for  me."  What  tremendous  ex- 
ploits of  patience  and  of  service  lie  latent 
in  that  supreme  assurance ! 

For,  mark  you,  all  love  conveys  the  lover 
to  the  beloved.  The  very  secret  of  love  is 
self-impartation  to  the  beloved.  Love  can 
never  content  herself  with  the  gifts  of 
things.  Charity  gives  things:  Love  always 
gives  herself.  Yes,  the  lover  gives  her- 
self! And  if  love  is  thus  self -giving  tell 
me,  then,  what  inconceivable  giving  is 
wrapped  up  in  the  love  of  Christ  for  Paul, 
and  in  the  love  of  Christ  for  thee  and  me  ? 
In  an  infinitely  deeper  and  richer  sense 
than  ever  a  loving  bridegroom  gives  him- 
self to  his  loving  bride,  our  great  and 
gracious  Lover,  the  Christ,  gives  Himself 
to  all  who  will  receive  Him.  The  Saviour's 
love  is  the  giving  of  Himself: 

Shall  I  now  dare  to  put  that  vast  and 
awe-inspiring  content  into  my  text?  Listen 
again  to  the  text:  "We  are  more  than 
conquerors  through  Christ  who  loved  us," 


264    THE  WHOLE  ARMOUR  OF  GOD 

Now  hear  it:  "We  are  more  than  con- 
querors through  Him  who  has  given  him- 
self to  us. ' '  That  word  expresses  the  very 
gospel  of  His  grace.  The  Christian  be- 
liever faces  all  his  circumstances,  not 
merely  with  a  love  but  with  a  Lover,  and 
with  a  Lover  who  Himself  mastered  every 
circumstance,  and  was  the  conqueror  of  sin 
and  death.  So  this  is  how  the  Gospel  music 
rings:  "We  are  more  than  conquerors 
through  Him  the  Conqueror"!  By  rever- 
ent faith  we  share  His  very  love,  we  drink 
His  very  blood,  and  all  our  circumstances 
are  made  to  pay  tribute  to  the  health  and 
welfare  of  our  souls.  We  are  more  than 
conquerors  through  Him  Who  is  ever  rid- 
ing forth,  conquering,  and  to  conquer. 

Now  I  think  I  can  go  back  to  those 
streets  of  Rome  where  we  began,  and 
where  we  watched  the  triumphant  con- 
queror returning  home  with  his  spoils. 
And  now  I  am  not  surprised  at  Paul's  dar- 
ing to  use  the  glowing  word  "  Con- 
queror' '  to  portray  the  glorious  victories 
of  the  soul.  When  I  go  into  the  realm  of 
his  soul  the  roadway  is  lined  with  a  cheer- 
ing multitude;  he  is  "compassed  about 
with  a  great  cloud  of  witnesses.' '   A  blood- 


MORE  THAN  CONQUERORS       265 

red  banner  is  waving  triumphantly  in  all 
his  goings ;  * '  His  banner  over  me  is  love ! ' ' 
A  garland  of  victory  awaits  the  victor's 
brow;  "henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me 
a  crown. ' 9  And  as  for  his  spirits,  they  are 
festive  in  the  love  of  the  Lord,  and  they 
dance  in  the  joy  of  blessed  assurance. 
"I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed!"  "I 
can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who 
strengtheneth  me!"  We  are  more  than 
conquerors  in  the  conquering  fellowship 
of  our  holy  and  gracious  Lord.  And 
this  song  of  the  conqueror  is  intended  to 
be  sung  by  thee  and  me.  0,  let  us  be- 
lieve it ! 

"Shall  this  divinely-urged  heart 

Half  toward  its  glory  move  ? 
What!  shall  I  love  in  part — in  part 

Yield  to  the  Lord  of  love  ? 
0  sweetest  freedom,  Lord,  to  be 

Thy  love's  full  prisoner! 
Take  me  all  captive ;  make  of  me 

A  more  than  conqueror!" 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  A  tnerica 


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Black  brings  that  interpretative  skill  and  keen  insight  which 
distinguishes  all  his  writings  and  thinking.  Especially  does  he 
face  the  problem  of  the  present  day  unsettlement  and  unreslj 
in  religious  beliefs  with  sanity  and  courage,  furnishing  in  thi?* 
as  in  other  aspects  of  his  enquiry,  a  new  viewpoint  and  elarw 
feed  outlook. 

S.  P.  GORDON 

Quiet  Talks  on  John's  Gospel 

As  Presented  in  the  Gospel  of  John.  Cloth,  net  f$e. 

Mr.  Gordon  halts  his  reader  here  and  there,  at  some  pre- 
cious text,  some  outstanding  instance  of  God's  tenderness, 
much  as  a  traveller  lingers  for  refreshment  at  a  wayside 
spring,  and  bids  us  hearken  as  God's  wooing  note  is  heard 
pleading  for  consecrated  service.  An  enheartening  book,  and 
£  restful.  A  book  of  the  winning  Voice,  of  outstretched 
Hands. 

ROBERT  F.    HORTON,  P.P. 

The  Springs  of  Joy  and  Other  Addresses 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

"Scholarly,   reverent,   penetrating,  human.     The  product  of 
a  mature  mind  and  of  a  genuine  and  sustained  religious  ex» 
erience.      The   message  of  a  thinker  and   a  saint,  which   will 
e  found  to  be  very  helpful." — Christian  Intelligencer. 


t 


BISHOP  WALTER   R.   LAMBUTH 

Winning  the  World  for  Christ 

A  Study  of  Dynamics.  Cole  Lectures  for  1915. 
l2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

This  Lecture-Course  is  a  spirited  contribution  to  the  dy- 
namics of  Missions.  It  presents  a  study  of  the  sources  of  in- 
spiration and  power  in  the  lives  of  missionaries,  native  and 
foreign,  who  with  supreme  abandon  gave  themselves  utterly 
to  '•he  work  to  which  they  were  called. 

FREDERICK  F.  SHANNON,   P.P. 

The  New  Personality  and  Other  Sermons 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.00. 

Mr.  Shannon,  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Church  on  the 
Heights,  Brooklyn,  is  possessed  of  lofty  ideals,  is  purpose- 
ful, more  than  ordinarily  eloquent  and  has  the  undoubted 
gifts  of  felicitous  and  epigrammatic  expression.  This  new  vol- 
ume by  the  popular  preacher  is  a  contribution  of  distinct  valut 
to  current  termonic  literature. 


EARLIER  WORKS  IN  DEMAND 

!■■■■■  M-WWIi  „     uppw^w ._— -yyj-j-ft 

Harare  Whipple 

The  Story-Life  of  the  Son  of  Man 

8vo,  illustrated,  net  $2.50. 

"A  literary  mosaic,  consisting  of  quotations  from  a  great 
number  of  writers  concerning  all  the  events  of  the  Gospels. 
The  sub-title  accurately  describes  its  contents.  That  sub- 
title is  'Nearly  a  thousand  stories  from  sacred  and  secular 
sources  in  a  continuous  and  complete  chronicle  of  the  earth 
life  of  the  Saviour.'  The  book  was  prepared  for  the  general 
render,  but  will  be  valuable  to  minister,  teacher  and  student. 
There  are  many  full-page  engravings  from  historic  paintings 
and  saered  originals,  some  reproduced  far  the  first  time,"— 
Christian  Observer. 

GAIUS  GLENN  ATKINS,  P.P. 

Pilgrims  of  the  Lonely  Road 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

"A  rare  book  for  its  style,  its  theme  and  the  richness  of 
its  insight.  Seldom  is  seen  a  book  of  more  exquisite  grace 
•f  diction — happy  surprises  of  phrase,  and  lovely  lengths  of 
haunting  prose  to  delight  the  eye.  Each  of  the  great  pil- 
grim's studies  is  followed  step  by  step  aleng  the  lonely  way 
of  the  soul  in  its  quest  of  light,  toward  the  common  goal  of 
all — union  with  the  eternal." — Chicago  Record-Herald. 

S.  P.  GORDON 

Quiet  Talks  on  Following  The  Chris* 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  75c. 

"This  volume  is  well  calculated  to  aid  in  Christian  life,  to 
give  strength,  courage  and  light  on  difficult  problems.  It 
grips  one's  very  life,  brings  one  face  to  face  with  God's 
word,  ways  of  understanding  it  and,  even  its  every  day  ap- 
plication. It  is  plain,  clear,  direct,  no  confusion  of  dark 
sentences," — Bapt.  Observer. 

G.  CAMPBELL  MORGAN,  PP. 

The  Teaching  of  ChrisT: 

A  Companion  Volume  to  "The  Crises  of  The 
Christ."    8vo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

"One  does  not  read  far  before  he  is  amazed  at  the  clear  and 
logical  grasp  Dr.  Morgan  has  upon  divine  truths.  Could  a 
copy  of  this  book,  with  its  marvelous  insight,  its  straightfor- 
wardness, its  masterly  appeal,  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  our 
church  leaders,  it  would  go  far  toward  negativing  the  spir- 
itual barrenness  of  destructive  criticism.  Here  is  a  _  work 
that  may  profitably  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the  minister's 
library." — Augsburg   Teacher. 

ZEPHINE  HUMPHREY 

The  Edge  of  the  Woods  And  other  Pipcn 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.25. 

"Sane  optimism,  an  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  and  a 
delicate  humor  pervades  the  book  which  is  one  for  lovers  of 
real  literature  to  enjoy." — Pittsburgh  Post. 


Princeton  Theological  Sem,nary-S 


Speer  Library 


012  01026  8680 


